Soldiers if the Imperium
by Matrix Dragon
Summary: Almost 40,000 years in the future, humanity fights for survival against every enemy imaginable. A Warhammer 40,000/Anime crossover.
1. Part One

Matrix Dragon Presents......  
  
Another creation of lack of sleep and too much caffeine...  
  
Soldiers of the Imperium  
  
A Warhammer 40,000/Anime Fusion, with a few other shows thrown in  
for good measure.  
  
Lots of copyrights.  
  
***  
  
In one possible future, mankind ruled the galaxy. With their  
powerful technology, they created thinking machines, the Iron Men.  
Together, they forced the alien races back to the very edges of space.  
  
Then, the Iron Men turned on their creators. The first human  
empire was consumed by a massive civil war. When it ended, the Iron  
Men were no more, but humankind was crippled. While human warmongers  
made a grab for power, the aliens that had been beaten back attacked,  
and then, the Gods themselves attacked. The foul Chaos Gods, four  
demons from the sub-universe known as the Warp.  
  
Humanity burned and died for almost five thousand years. But they  
managed to rebuild, sort of.  
  
This is the age of the Imperium, the second human empire, one that  
has lasted for ten thousand years. Technology is more like magic, with  
only a small few truly understanding it. They did not create this  
technology. They scavenged it from the ruins of the old empire. The  
immortal Emperor is treated as a God, with an entire religion based  
around him. It is the only religion permitted.  
  
Now, mankind is on the brink of destruction. Across the entire  
galaxy, the Imperium is under attack, by aliens of all types, traitors  
and rebels, and even the minions of the foul Gods of Chaos. The only  
thing that holds back the destruction is the various armies of  
mankind: the genetically enhanced super-humans of the Adeptus  
Astartes, also known as the Space Marines. The Adepta Sororitas, the  
female warriors of the Imperial Cult. The Inquisitors, hunting down  
traitors, heretics and aliens. The Adeptus Mechanicus, the Tech-  
priests who study the ancient technology and attempt to rebuild it  
into weapons of war.  
  
And of course, the Imperial Guard. The largest army in history.  
Tens, maybe hundreds of billions of soldiers, fighting across the  
galaxy.  
  
Despite these massive numbers, it is still never enough, and more  
soldiers are always needed....  
  
***  
  
The planet Tokyo is a rather small world, out of the way of most  
of the galaxy. The only real problems they have ever had were pirates  
causing disruptions to trade almost a thousand years ago. They have a  
small planetary defence force, and a few ships from the Imperial  
Navies for defence.  
  
In the year M41.975, some general decided to make a play for  
power. He took control of almost half the Tokyo Defence Force, and  
attempted to take over the planet. After a year of heavy fighting, he  
was finally defeated.  
  
After looking at how the loyal TDF handled the crisis, it was  
decided that Tokyo would supply three regiments to the Imperial Guard.  
They began recruiting almost instantly, and by the end of the year,  
almost ten thousand men and women were waiting to board the troopships  
in orbit.  
  
***  
  
Ranma Saotome looked out of the viewport, watching as the planet  
below him began to shrink. He still couldn't really accept that he'd  
never see it again. In his mind, he knew and understood it, but his  
heart wasn't listening.  
  
"Still kinda hard to believe, isn't it?" a voice said. Ranma  
looked up to see Lina Inverse standing there. They had both been  
assigned to the same squad, under an absolute jerk of a sergeant. Back  
on Tokyo, they'd both been wanderers, travelling the world, and had  
quickly become friends after meeting each other a few days ago.  
  
"Yeah, it is hard to believe," he replied. "I still can't really  
accept that we'll never see it again. I'm sure I did the right thing  
signing up though."  
  
Lina nodded. "It's not like there's much back there for us." She  
sat down next to him. "Take me. I built up such a reputation that I  
couldn't enter a city without some wanna-be trying to beat me to show  
how great he was."  
  
"I had a similar problem," Ranma replied. "My old man was a big  
con-man. Scammed so many people it ain't funny. And a lot of them came  
after me!" He growled. "Turns out the old fool engaged me to about ten  
different girls."  
  
"Yeowch," Lina muttered. "That really sucks. How'd he think he  
could... wow, would ya look at that!"  
  
"Huh?" Ranma glanced out the window again. Tokyo could no longer  
be seen, as the transport had rotated, and they were now looking at a  
massive vessel, floating in the void.  
  
Larger then the entire city of Nerima, the vessel was long and thin.  
On what was undoubtedly the top of the craft, what looked like a  
hundred churches rose up, gun emplacements on the tower. Weapons  
batteries and landing bays ran along the side of the ship, before  
ending at a large armoured plate that covered the front of the craft.  
At the rear, powerful engines glowed a dull blue.  
  
"That's the Emperor's Touch," Lina said. "I've seen the picts, but  
the real thing...." She simply let her voice trail off. She didn't  
need to finish the statement. Ranma understood what she meant  
perfectly.  
  
***  
  
Soon, their shuttle had landed on their transport ship, some  
vessel that Ranma didn't know the name of. They left the shuttle, and  
soon found themselves turning over their weapons at security.  
  
"Turn over all firearms, and state your name and rank, family  
names first," a bored officer said.  
  
Ranma placed his lasgun and two pistols on the table. "Saotome  
Ranma, Trooper."  
  
Lina placed her lasgun, a saw-off shotgun and an old autopistol on  
the table. "Inverse Lina, Trooper."  
  
Behind them, the rest of the squad went through the same thing,  
although Ranma noticed that the sergeant didn't turn over an  
autopistol hidden in his fatigues.  
  
After that, they were shown to their bunks, told where they were  
allowed to go, before they were left alone, with nothing to do until  
the rest of the troops boarded.  
  
***  
  
Almost a day later, several troop carriers, along with several  
ships as escorts, left Tokyo and set off across the galaxy, to one of  
the countless war-zones.  
  
***  
  
"This is Redermade," General Soun Tendo said to the assembled  
officers. "Ten months ago the planetary governor broke away from  
Imperial rule, and since then Imperial Guard forces have been  
attempting to retake the planet. The planet is a hive world, and the  
governor was able to turn the majority of the natives to his side. So  
far, Guard forces have retaken one of the hive cities and are using it  
as a staging ground. We will be reinforcing the Dalen 4th, which have  
suffered serious losses on the front line." A section of the map on  
the viewscreen behind the General glowed red, indicating the area the  
Tokyo Regiments would be deployed in.  
  
"First Regiment, companies one through six will deploy here,"  
Tendo continued, as a subsection of the red area flashed blue. "Our  
armoured company, Seventh company, will remain in reserve, ready to  
support an offensive. Second Regiment will deploy here. Third Regiment  
will deploy along this last section. Colonel Rezo and Colonel Miller  
will determine the arrangements for their own regiments. We arrive at  
Redermade in two weeks. I want our men as ready as possible. Take a  
good look at the intel data you've been given. I want Tokyo to get a  
reputation as Guardsman who do what they're meant to do. I don't want  
us to lose this battle. Do I make myself clear?"  
  
"Yes sir!" The officers replied.  
  
"Good. Dismissed."  
  
***  
  
Lina was in the ships entertainment area, playing the latest  
flight sim, 'Alien Hunter.' The original was something cooked up by a  
techpriest years ago. Although the techpriest had been punished for  
experimenting in technology that the authorities believed was best  
left forgotten, a decade later they decided that it was useful as a  
propaganda tool.  
  
After all, if all the enemy aircraft are as weak as a wet piece of  
paper, it helps convince the public how powerful the Imperium is,  
right?  
  
Lina didn't care about any of that. What mattered to her was that  
there was a high score on this machine that matched her best. She'd be  
damned if she was going to let that stand!  
  
Ranma, several guardsman and a few crewmen watched as she flew her  
Lightning around several explosions, before opening fire with her  
autocannon, reducing an Ork fighta-bomber to tin-foil. From the ground  
below her, several Ork Big Gunz started blasting away. Lina banked  
left, then launched a missile, wiping the Gunz from existence. Her  
score climbed.  
  
Now came the traditional end of level boss. An Ork Gargant, a  
giant robot in the distorted image of an Ork. The Servitor in her  
aircraft located several weak points on the death machine. Each  
location had a different points value, based on difficulty. Most  
gamers went for the easy targets. Lina on the other hand, opened up  
the turbines and raced past the machine, before coming back around for  
an attack run.  
  
Las-fire sped forward from the Lightning's wing-tips, tearing  
apart the Gargants back armour as it turned to face her. She sped  
past, peppering the head section with autocannon fire, then performed  
an Immelmann, bringing her about for another attack. The Gargants  
mouth opened, revealing a large energy cannon preparing to fire.  
  
Lina launched her last rocket straight down it's throat before  
pulling up and powering up the turbines to max. The screen cut to a  
pre-made clip of the fighter launching into space, with the Gargant  
blowing apart underneath it. Lina's score skyrocketed.  
  
Ranma smirked. "Enjoying yourself, ain't you?" he asked.  
  
"Damn straight," Lina replied. "Who knows when I'll get to play  
one of these things again. Might as well enjoy it while I can. Hey,  
anyone know if this is like the real thing?"  
  
"Not even close," a navy pilot said. "The game has ten, maybe  
twelve buttons. The real things have nearly a hundred different  
controls. And Gargants are a lot more dangerous then that."  
  
"Ouch," Lina commented. "I'll stick to the life of a footslogger,  
me thinks. Oooh, Eldar. I love pounding on these guys!"  
  
***  
  
And so time passed on the frigate Pioneer. Over the next two  
weeks, life for the Guardsmen consisted of heavy training, sleep, and  
relaxing. In her time off, Lina made the arcade her second home,  
quickly putting the old high scores to shame. Ranma came in a close  
second, but spent a lot of time in the gyms, sparing with other  
trained fighters from both the Navy and Tokyo.  
  
Soon, there was only a day before the Tokyo regiments would enter  
the battlefields of Redermade. Ranma found himself sitting in an  
observatory, looking out over the void of space. They had dropped out  
of Warp space and re-entered normal reality just over an hour ago, and  
Ranma was hoping to see this world they'd be fighting on.  
  
"Ah, so this is where you've been hiding," a voice said. Ranma  
glanced up to see Tenchi Masaki, a trooper from second platoon,  
walking towards him, Lina not far behind. He'd met Tenchi in the gym,  
where the pair had had a number of sparring matches.  
  
"Just admiring the view," he said. "What about you two?"  
  
"Looking for you actually," Lina said. "We're to be on our  
transports at 1400 hours."  
  
"That gives us-" Ranma checked his watch, "-another ten hours.  
What's the rush?"  
  
"Word is the rebels launched a major offensive. The Guardsmen down  
there took a beating," Tenchi said. The swordsman looked out the large  
viewport. "That's a nice view."  
  
"Peaceful too. Lap it up guys, we might not get to see it again."  
Lina and Tenchi pulled up some seats. "Hey Tenchi, I've been meaning  
to ask you, where'd you come from? Back on Tokyo, I mean."  
  
"I'm from outside Juuban, on the North continent," Tenchi replied.  
"My grandfather was a minor noble of some sort, who grew tired of all  
the politics and faked his death. Then he had a daughter, who married  
my father, an architect. Mother died when I was little, and after the  
woman I loved died, I decided to join the Planetary Defence Force, and  
the Guard from there. There wasn't really much left for me there. I  
didn't really want to follow in my fathers footsteps, and Grandfathers  
old career had too many problems in it, so I decided to make my own."  
  
Lina nodded. "It was really the same sorta choice for me. I'm sure  
you heard all the stories about the deadly Lina Inverse, the  
adventurer who defeated evil criminals and heretics all the time."  
Both men nodded. "After a while, it became too much. I couldn't go  
anywhere without being recognized. I'd gotten a reputation as a  
trouble magnet, so people either avoided me, or tried to defeat me so  
they could look big and strong. I had to get away from it all. When  
the government declared they were raising Guard regiments, I realized  
that this was my best chance to get away from the madness and just be  
some soldier. Besides, there really wasn't much for me back there."  
She turned her attention to Ranma. "What about you Saotome? You've  
mentioned a few bits and pieces before."  
  
Ranma sighed. "When I was a kid, Pops took me off on this training  
trip. We spent the next ten years travelling across Tokyo, until some  
of his past caught up with him. Namely, the fact he had ripped off  
countless shop owners, and engaged we to at least ten girls!" Ranma  
growled, and Lina and Tenchi sighed. "Anyway, the last thing I saw of  
him was some guy in one of those powered suits you see on docks for  
heavy lifting attacking him. We got separated, and I realized that the  
only way to avoid having all the problems there was to simply sign  
up."  
  
"I guess we all have that in common," Tenchi said. The others  
looked at him. "We didn't really have anything for us back home, and  
we wanted to leave our pasts behind."  
  
Ranma nodded. "Yeah, well let's see how long our new lives last  
before we get too comfortable."  
  
***  
  
Redermade was a Hive world. That is, a planet with giant cities  
containing tens of millions of people. The total population was over  
currently estimated at over twenty billion, and had been closer to  
forty before the Imperial Navy reduced several Hive cities to rubble.  
  
As Ranma stepped off the transport craft, he noted that it really  
was just some dirtball with every natural resource drain dry. "What  
does the Imperium want with a junk heap like this?" he muttered.  
  
"Mankind must remain united," a Commissar said, "and those that  
would seek to destroy our hard-earned unity must be punished, as a  
lesson. Both to them, and to others that would follow in their  
footsteps."  
  
Ranma glanced at the political officer. "Uh, right. Thanks so very  
much." He turned to Lina. "I hate the propaganda answers," he  
muttered.  
  
"Move it you lot!" The sergeant yelled. "Into the trucks!"  
  
***  
  
"The Tokyo's are a rather new regiment," General Parker of the  
Cadian 21st said. "They haven't had time to get a high opinion of  
themselves like many other regiments."  
  
"That is true, but I have a major problem with them," replied  
Colonel Nowles of the Valhallen 15th. "Women in combat? What a joke."  
  
"Have you forgotten the Adepta Sororitas?" Commissar Barnes asked.  
"Those warriors are all women. The females of the Tokyo Regiments  
prove their worth to the Emperor just as much as the men. I admire  
their devotion."  
  
"We'll see how much you admire it after they see combat," Nowles  
replied. "Where are they being deployed anyway?"  
  
***  
  
"What a dump," Ranma Saotome commented. He was right. The  
battleground was hit hard by almost a year of constant war here,  
leaving most of the place mud, mixed with a good helping of blood. The  
mud was about a foot deep, which made for fun trenches.  
  
"Could be worse," Lina Inverse replied.  
  
"Yeah, how?"  
  
"I'm still thinking on that one."  
  
"Move it you two," their sergeant growled. Ranma barely refrained  
from hitting the man. Dilgear was so hairy it almost looked like fur,  
and had the personality of a wolf. He bossed around anyone lower  
ranked then him, and kissed the ass of anyone higher ranked.  
  
The squad walked down the trenches, until they were given their  
billets. Some of the troopers, mostly city kids, were disgusted by the  
sleeping arrangements. Ranma and Lina had more experience with bad  
beds, and set up without a single complaint.  
  
***  
  
Tenchi was manning a Heavy Bolter gun emplacement, cup of caffeine  
in his hands. The night had passed without incident, and the Tokyo  
Regiments were beginning their life as guardsmen. He'd spent the last  
four hours on this metal tower, watching for enemy movement.  
  
So far, he was bored. Nothing had happened. Not that he minded  
that, oh no. He'd like to keep it boring if possible.  
  
"Yo, Masaki."  
  
Tenchi looked down from the tower to see a guardsman climbing the  
ladder. "Hey Bill. You get the food?"  
  
"Yeah. How much longer we stuck up here?"  
  
"Another two hours. Want a cup?"  
  
"Sure thing. Thanks."  
  
Just as Tenchi bent down, there was a distant ping. When he turned  
around, Bills body slumped to the ground, part of his head missing.  
  
Tenchi leapt for the Heavy Bolter. "We're under attack!" he yelled  
into his comm-link. Through the weapons scope he saw figures in the  
distance. "Enemy infantry at five hundred metres out!" He squeezed  
down on the trigger, launching a barrage of large calibre shells off  
into the distance. None hit, although the rebels dove for cover.  
  
Las-fire emerged from almost four hundred metres out. The attack  
had begun.  
  
***  
  
Ranma flicked the safety off on his lasgun, then rested it on top  
of the trench for a look through his scope. The rebels were still four  
hundred metres out, too far for las-fire to have any effect, but at  
least he'd know where to shoot.  
  
Suddenly, a tiny flash of light whizzed past his head, turning a  
tiny glob of mud to steam and dirt. Ranma dropped back into the  
trench. All that weakened blast would have done was given him a slight  
rash if it hit, but it was still startling. "Shit! I guess this is  
it," he muttered.  
  
Lina nodded, and loaded a fuel tank into her flamer. "Let's make  
Tokyo proud."  
  
"We fire as soon as they're in range!" Sergeant Dilgear growled.  
"Don't waste your ammo. Single shots, highest setting. Inverse, switch  
to your lasgun until they're close. Open fire on my signal."  
  
Ramna adjusted his gun, rested it against the trench. Looking  
through his scope, he targeted one of the rebels. Bland and dull in  
his grey body armour, he was to be Ranma's first kill. His finger  
rested on the trigger, waiting.  
  
Then his world went up in fire.  
  
***  
  
Tenchi glanced to the right. Almost twenty metres down the  
trenches, a mortar shell had landed right in the middle of a squad.  
"What was I thinking?" he muttered, sweeping the Heavy Bolter across  
the approaching infantry. Through the bulky scope on top of the gun he  
saw a two man weapons crew, reloading a mortar launcher. "Gotcha," he  
growled, spraying the area with the heavy rounds. Both men dropped,  
spraying blood. Tenchi swung the gun away, blocking out the  
image. "Washuu-chan was nothing compared to this!"  
  
Suddenly, his gun moaned and stopped firing. "Huh? Ammo jam!"  
Quickly, he removed the ammo-belt, pulled out the jammed round,  
reattached the ammo-belt and started firing again.  
  
***  
  
Ranma climbed to his feet. Most of the squad was doing the same  
thing. Three of them remained on the ground. Sergeant Dilgear was one  
of them.  
  
The city-kids were freaking, Ranma noticed. Lina and those  
recruited from the TDF were pulling themselves together, but that left  
two people ready to run.  
  
"Pull yourself together!" He yelled. "If you run, you'll be  
remembered as cowards! Back on Tokyo your families will consider you  
nothing but fools that pretended to be soldiers, then wimped out at  
the first sign of trouble."  
  
"If we stay here we'll die," one of them replied.  
  
"If you run away you'll die! Either by a firing squad or a  
Commissar shooting you in the back of the head. You won't get to  
choose either. The only chance you have at surviving is to fight. All  
of you, open fire!" Ranma led by example, firing at approaching  
infantry. Lina followed up, with the rest of the squad close behind.  
  
In the distance, grey-coloured soldiers began to drop. Some of  
those hit got back up, as las-fire was rather weak at these ranges.  
  
Enemy las-fire impacted against the trench, sending up puffs of  
mud. Ranma dropped down to reload, then saw one of the corpses  
clutching the squads rocket launcher. Dropping the lasgun, he grabbed  
the bulky weapon and checked it. Loaded with a frag missile.  
Perfect. "Fire in the hole!" he yelled as the rest of the squad  
backed off. He squeezed the trigger.  
  
A small missile launched forward, raced across no-mans land, and  
detonated in the middle of a rebel squad. "Reload," Ranma ordered,  
popping open the launcher. One of the troopers tossed him another frag  
missile. He aimed at another squad and fired. More rebels died.  
  
Suddenly Lina screamed and dropped to the trench floor. Her upper  
right arm was badly injured by a las-shot. The heat of the beam had  
cauterised the wound, but she was still in a lot of pain. Ranma tossed  
the launcher to another soldier and pulled her out off the mud. "Are  
you all right?" he asked.  
  
"Hurts like hell," she replied through gritted teeth, "but I can  
still fire a lasgun." Ranma helped her to her feet, and she grabbed  
her lasgun from where it had fallen.  
  
***  
  
The Heavy Bolter ran out of ammo at last. Tenchi grabbed his  
lasgun and leapt off the tower. Below him, the rest of his squad  
blazed away, cutting down the enemy.  
  
"Bolter's dry," he said to the platoon commander, some Lieutenant  
by the name of Zolf.  
  
"Get your lasgun and form up with your squad," Zolf replied. He  
turned his attention to the comm-link in his hands. "Company command,  
this is second platoon command. Rebel infantry attack on our position  
has stalled. Request armoured support to push them back."  
  
Tenchi flicked off the safety on his lasgun and ran towards his  
squad. Then he stopped as he saw a flash of light in the distance.  
"What the?"  
  
***  
  
"Oh shit," Ranma muttered. "Tanks!" He glanced at the squad.  
"Where's the comm-set?" One of the men stopped shooting and handed him  
the headset. "Company command, this is first platoon first squad. We  
have tanks approaching our position."  
  
"1-1 this is company command, can you get an estimate on the  
number of tanks and their make?"  
  
"Checking now." Ranma risked looking over the edge of the trench.  
"I count six Leman Russ Main Battle Tanks, two Leman Russ  
Exterminators, and a Leman Russ Demolisher. No sign of any tanks based  
off Chimera designs."  
  
"Understood 1-1. We are directing armoured vehicles to your  
position."  
  
"Great," Ranma muttered as the line went dead. "Well, until they  
get here.... KILL ANYTHING THAT MOVES!"  
  
***  
  
Several tanks trundled forward, painted in the dark grey of the  
rebels. The mud and dirt didn't slow them down in any way. In fact,  
the only thing slowing them down was that they didn't want to outpace  
the infantry and be left open to an attack.  
  
In the lead tank, the commander of the attack group barked out a  
series of orders, both to infantry and armour alike. Glancing out of a  
thin slot, the commander saw the trench ahead, and a steady stream of  
las-fire that came from it.  
  
"Fire on that trench," he ordered. "Units 12 through 17, prepare  
to assault the breach."  
  
***  
  
Ranma fired on full auto into the approaching infantry, cutting  
them down even as they tried to find cover. Then he saw the Leman Russ  
Demolisher turn towards them, it's short-range cannon taking aim.  
"Move!" he yelled, running down the trench. The other guardsmen  
bolted.  
  
With a roar like thunder, the section of trench exploded, knocking  
Ranma off his feet. A body landed nearby. It was holding the squads  
missile launcher. Ranma grabbed it, as well as an unarmed krak missile  
that had landed nearby. Loading the launcher, he fired off a shot at  
the Demolisher.  
  
The shell detonated harmlessly against the thick frontal armour of  
the tank.  
  
"Have we got anything that'll get through that armour?" he  
growled.  
  
"Third squad had a Lascannon, but I think it got blasted," Lina  
replied, tossing him another Krak missile. "Try to hit the vision  
slit." She tossed away her lasgun and got her flamer ready.  
  
Ranma aimed and fired. The missile hit near the vision slit at the  
front of the tank, but didn't seem to do any damage.  
  
Suddenly, the tank went up in a massive fireball, shrapnel killing  
a number of rebels. Ranma glanced behind him to see a Destroyer Tank  
Hunter, its powerful Laser Destroyer Cannon smoking.  
  
The Imperial Armour had arrived.  
  
***  
  
With the arrival of the Armour to support First Company, it  
quickly became a case of blow the other side up first. The rebels were  
at a disadvantage. Their tanks were in the open, exposed to the  
weaponry of the Imperial Guard.  
  
The advance of the rebel infantry stalled, giving the Guardsmen  
time to cut down more of them with las-fire. And when they finally  
closed in, Lina and other troopers were waiting for them with flamers.  
While almost a hundred burned, the rest retreated, their morale  
destroyed with the last blows. Many more were cut down as they ran.  
  
***  
  
Ranma removed the dog tags from the dead guardsmen, then had  
others stack the bodies on carts. They'd be taken away from the front  
lines to prevent infection.  
  
The bodies of the rebels in no mans land were a different story.  
Anyone that tried to move those bodies would most likely be shot by  
enemy snipers. They pushed the corpses about three metres away from  
the trenches with their weapons, tools and such, but that was all they  
could do.  
  
"Trooper Saotome?" Ranma glanced up to see the platoon lieutenant  
standing there. He snapped to attention. "At ease. I understand it was  
you that took command of this squad after Sergeant Dilgear was  
killed?"  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
"Good job. Effective immediately, you're promoted to corporal and  
placed in command of this squad. Understand?"  
  
"Y-yes sir," Ranma stammered.  
  
"Good. Report to me in two hours with full details on your squads  
current combat efficiency."  
  
As the Lieutenant walked off, Lina slapped him on the back. "Way  
to go sir!" she yelled.  
  
"Gee, thanks, I think," he replied. "You're my second in command.  
I buy it, you take over, got it?"  
  
"Sure. Real confident about your life span, ain't you?"  
  
"Take a look at Dilgear and then see if you feel confident," Ranma  
replied.  
  
"Good point," Lina muttered.  
  
Ranma looked out over no mans land. According to the Imperium  
religion, war was a vital part of the galaxy. Mankind had to fight to  
defend themselves against the alien horrors that threatened humanities  
very existence.  
  
So why are we fighting humans then? Ranma thought. If it wasn't  
humans he was killing, maybe it would be all right.  
  
All that mattered was that here, man was fighting man, for a  
wasteland that had no purpose. And as he thought about it, Ranma  
wondered just what he was thinking when he enlisted.  
  
***  
  
End part one  
  
***  
  
In the next instalment of Soldiers of the Imperium, we see the  
Tokyo Regiments begin to settle in. Corporal Saotome learns just why  
command sucks, and another rebel attack extends into the trenches  
themselves.  
  
***  
  
Authors Notes:  
  
This one came after reading the Gaunt's Ghost series by Dan  
Abnett. These books are good for any fans of sci-fi and war, even if  
you don't like the Warhammer 40,000 table-top game.  
  
After this, I watched Ranma 1/2 The Movie, and a bit of Slayers,  
then Saving Private Ryan, and then this just popped into my head. Put  
familiar characters in the warzones of the Imperium and watch what  
happened.  
  
With this story, I'm not going for the humor of Ranma, or the  
magical mayhem of Slayers or anything else. In the Imperium, war is  
everywhere, and death close by. This is going to be pretty serious,  
and more so as time goes on. There will be moments of humor of course,  
but not as many as the anime some of the characters are originally  
from.  
  
Matrix Dragon  
"The distinction between Trade and Warfare is seen only by those  
who have no experience of either." - Heironymo Sondar, House Sondar. 


	2. Part Two

Matrix Dragon Presents.....  
  
Soldiers of The Imperium, Part Two  
  
I don't own 'em. If I did, do you think I'd be typing this on an  
old 486? NO! I'd have a new computer, with every major PC game on it,  
and servants catering to my every whim, with a nice.... (Doctors drag  
him away by the collar of his straightjacket.)  
  
***  
  
Ranma Saotome looked out over the wasteland. He didn't like what  
he saw. The rain had stopped a week back, the star systems red sun  
turning the mud hard and rotting the corpses even faster. At least the  
rain kept the flies down.  
  
Three weeks. Three weeks since the Tokyo Regiments had arrived on  
this dirtball. They'd been thrown right in the deep end, ordered to  
defend an area where the rebels were determined to break through.  
They'd learnt fast. They had to. Those that didn't learn died.  
  
They no longer used Low Gothic on their regimental communications.  
They used Tokyo's native language. It was a language the enemy did not  
know and it made for safer communications.  
  
They'd learnt new tactics, abandoned ones that didn't work. The  
result was a stronger regiment. Although they had less men, they had  
the skill to make up for it. They were able to defend and ready to  
attack.  
  
Ranma turned his attention to his men. HIS men. Right after that  
first battle, the Lieutenant had promoted him to Corporal and placed  
him in command of a squad.  
  
In his opinion, promotion was a pain. He'd had to deal with the  
supplies of the entire squad, make sure that they all stay alive, and  
deal with any other problems that came up.  
  
He glanced at the data-slate in his hands. The ammunition supplies  
of his squad were displayed there. Fuel canisters for Lina's flamer  
was almost out, and they were short on missiles. At least they had  
plenty of power packs for the lasguns.  
  
He wrote up a request for extra ammo, then had Ash Ketchum deliver  
the message to the platoon command. Ranma watched him go, then turned  
his attention back to his meal. "If there's anything I hate most about  
the Guard, it's there MRE's," he muttered.  
  
Lina nodded in agreement. The MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) not only  
tasted bad, but contained very little. For people with appetites the  
size of Ranma's and Lina's, this was not a good thing.  
  
Lina shook the plastic bag, sighing when only a few crumbs fell  
out. "This really sucks, you know that?"  
  
Ranma nodded, tossing his bag away. "What I'd give for some real  
food," he said, thinking of the wonderful meal he'd had the night  
before he enlisted. Since then he'd been surviving on slop, and his  
stomach was letting him know.  
  
Lina climbed into her billet and tried to get some sleep. The  
rebels had been keeping her awake, meaning that she was tired and  
extremely grumpy.  
  
Ranma almost felt sorry for the rebels if they chose to attack  
today. Almost. He was tired as well.  
  
***  
  
Tenchi locked the ammo-belt back into place, then tested the Heavy  
Bolter again. The blasted thing still wouldn't fire. "Argh," he  
commented.  
  
"That thing still not working?" Lieutenant Zolf asked as he walked  
up behind Tenchi. Said trooper yelped in surprise.  
  
"No sir," Tenchi said quickly, standing up and saluting.  
  
"At ease. It could have been worse. A few inches higher and it  
would have been your face that took the blast, not the gun."  
  
Tenchi considered that. Here he'd been, getting angry with a  
faulty gun, when the only reason he was alive was because said faulty  
gun took the shot for him. Kinda funny, but a little immature too.  
  
"Anyway, Masaki, I want you to make a run to Workshop Sixty-Beta.  
They've got supplies and weaponry I want brought up here. Take Saeba  
with you."  
  
"Ryo Saeba?" Tenchi said.  
  
"You know him?"  
  
"Only by reputation mostly." And none of it good, he mentally  
added. Ryo Saeba had a reputation as one of the regiments biggest  
lechers. No small number of the female soldiers had introduced him to  
the butt of their lasguns. Unlike that Ataru jerk over in Third  
Company, Ryo was actually quite useful in a fight.  
  
"He may be a pervert, but he's strong. He should be able to carry  
a decent amount of equipment."  
  
Tenchi nodded, then unclamped the Heavy Bolter from its mount.  
  
***  
  
"Hey beautiful, how about you and I go back to my billet for a  
little close combat?" Ryo Saeba asked a young woman wearing the green  
Tokyo uniform. She responded by slamming the butt of her lasgun into  
his stomach, doubling him over.  
  
"Oh come on," Tenchi muttered. "You can sicken the opposite gender  
later. We've got a job to do." He pulled the grumbling soldier through  
the trenches, until they emerged into slightly wider trenches, about a  
kilometre behind the front lines.  
  
Workshop Sixty-Beta was well hidden on the surface. The only sign  
of it was a polyfibre blast shield over a wooden door, along with  
several anti-gas curtains. Tenchi pulled the drapes out of the way,  
knocked on the shield, then stepped back in surprise as a small  
hologram of a crab appeared.  
  
"Hi!" the crab said cheerfully. "I'm kinda busy right now, so if  
you leave your name and geno-print, I'll get back to you as soon as  
possible. Just leave the message after the beep. Beep!"  
  
"Washuu-chan?!" Tenchi exclaimed. The crab was his old friends  
motif.  
  
The crab faded away, replaced by a familiar face surrounded by a  
mop of red hair. "Tenchi, is that you?" Washuu Hibuki asked.  
  
"It's me Washuu-chan. What are you doing here?"  
  
"It's a long story, and I suspect it's the same for you. Come in,  
come in!" The blast shield slid to the side, and Tenchi and Ryo heard  
the click of the door unlocking.  
  
"Judging from her face, I'd say the rest of her was extremely  
beautiful," Ryo said. "Lush and ripe-"  
  
"Will you put a sock in it," Tenchi growled. "Now come on." He  
opened the door and descended the flight of stairs on the other side.  
  
Reaching the bottom, he looked around the small workshop,  
remembering a time long past.  
  
The room was filled with dozens of arcane machines, some devices  
half-assembled, others beeping and chattering. In a metallic chair  
that floated above the ground by the use of several anti-grav plates,  
sat a woman that appeared to be in her mid-twenties. She placed the  
object in her hands on the bench and ran over to Tenchi, hugging him.  
"It's so good to see you Tenchi!"  
  
"Same h-"  
  
"HELLOOOO NURSE!"  
  
"Oh no," Tenchi groaned, seeing Ryo start to drool. The pervert  
was lining up for a quick grope. At least, he was until a multi-  
barrelled weapon on a bench came to life, and several red dots  
appeared on his forehead. Ryo froze.  
  
"Out," Washuu said in a cold voice. Ryo nodded and fled. Washuu  
turned her attention back to Tenchi. "When did you get here?" she  
asked as she released him from her death hug.  
  
"About the same time you did, I'll bet," he replied.  
  
"Probably. But why did you join the guard? Leaving Tokyo forever  
would have been tough."  
  
"No harder then what you went through."  
  
Washuu shook her head. "I ended up on Tokyo by accident in the  
first place. It was leaving your family house that was hard. But after  
you left, it was too peaceful. And... I couldn't help but remember  
Ryouko."  
  
"That's why I left as well," Tenchi replied. Then he changed the  
subject. "Anyway, I was sent here to get some supplies for first  
company second platoon, under Lieutenant Zolf."  
  
"Hm? Oh yeah, that!" the red-head said, bounding over to a bench.  
Four boxes were stacked there, the open top of one revealing a number  
of repaired weapons. "It's pretty easy to fix guns when you're the  
best tech-priest in the galaxy!"  
  
"Then would you be able to take a look at this?" Tenchi asked,  
unslinging the Heavy Bolter. Washuu took a quick glance at it and  
nodded.  
  
"That'll be no problem. Saaayyy..."  
  
Tenchi gulped. That tone of voice usually meant trouble for him.  
  
"How would you like to test out some modifications to a weapon  
I've got here?"  
  
Tenchi nodded carefully. Washuu grinned and picked up a large  
weapon off a bench. It was a man-portable Autocannon, ammo-belt  
currently resting nearby. She handed it to Tenchi, who was surprised  
at its weight. It was lighter then the usual model he was used to.  
  
"I made it from new alloys the priest-hood recovered a few years  
ago," Washuu said by way of explanation. Tenchi nodded. He knew a few  
things about that, although it was nothing compared to the tech-priest  
in front of him. "It'll take a while for me to fix that thing," she  
said, pointing at the defective Heavy Bolter. "I'm a busy priestess."  
  
"Sure thing. Ryo! Get down here now!" Ryo came down the steps,  
watching the strange weapon on the bench as it began to follow him  
again. "Grab some boxes, balls-for-brains."  
  
"Man, why are you so grouchy all of a sudden?" Ryo asked.  
  
"Mostly because you tried to grope a good friend of mine," Tenchi  
replied. "Now take some of those boxes." Ryo sulked, but did as he was  
told.  
  
"I've got to get back to my platoon," Tenchi said. "I'll drop by  
and visit when I can."  
  
"Sure thing," Washuu replied. "Just make sure that you do visit."  
  
Tenchi nodded, slung his new Autocannon over his shoulders,  
grabbed several boxes and walked up the steps, Ryo close behind him.  
Washuu watched them leave. "There are people that will want to know  
about this," she said, pulling back her sleve and synth-skin to reveal  
the bionics in her arm. Attaching several wires, she activated a  
cogitator. Writing began to appear on the screen as he mentally typed  
a message, before encrypting it and sending it to one of the regiments  
astropaths. The psyker would transmit the message through the Warp,  
allowing it to reach Tokyo, almost fifty light-years away, in a week.  
  
***  
  
General Soun Tendo, overall commander of the Tokyo Regiments,  
walked down the trenches of the First Regiment. He had been pulling  
random inspections of the trenches, in order to see for himself that  
the men were in fighting trim.  
  
The various soldiers snapped to attention as he came near them,  
and he took the time to examine them. The morale of the men and women  
of the Tokyo Regiments was surprisingly high, considering the number  
of attacks that took place along their part of the battlefield. Of  
course, most of them didn't know that the rebels had been directing a  
larger number of attacks to the Tokyo forces then the other Guard  
Regiments. He considered the idea of tellng them that, but scrapped it  
due to morale concerns.  
  
By the time he reached the first company, manning the eastern  
section of the Tokyo trenches, the sky had gotten cloudy again. He  
partly hoped that it rained. But then his men would be walking through  
a foot of mud again, and the insects would start breeding in puddles  
again. He'd lost almost five men to sickness brought on by insects.  
  
Ranma and his unit saluted as the General approached. "At ease,"  
he said. The soldiers returned to what they were doing.  
  
Ranma watched as his commanding officer examined the area. The man  
had shown up several times over the past few weeks, and the Corporal  
had heard stories of the squads and platoons that did not meet his  
expectations.  
  
"How are your supplies corporal?" the General asked.  
  
"They're sufficient sir," Ranma replied. "There is a slight  
shortage of flamer fuel-tanks, but I already have more on the way."  
  
"Very good," Tendo said. He would have asked more, but the head-  
sets both he and Ranma were wearing squawked into life.  
  
"This is 275/12c. All units in trench section 437/23, movement  
sighted at nine hundred metres."  
  
"Movement at nine hundred," Ranma said in a calm voice. His squad  
sprung into life, readying their weapons. Trooper Shinji Ikari readied  
his sniper-variant lasgun, running the scope across no-mans land.  
  
"I've got a target," he said quietly. "Light infantry at one  
o'clock, range eight-seventy. I count twenty-four troops."  
  
Ranma nodded, relaying the message to company command. Soun  
watched with pride. Then his headset crackled into life again. "Tendo  
here."  
  
"General, you have a communication from Lord Commander Hayes."  
  
Tendo sighed. Hayes was the overall commander of the Redermade  
campaign, and a pain in the butt. He was more then willing to  
sacrifice entire regiments for no gain whatsoever, which made him very  
unpopular in an age where the old tactics of cannon fodder no longer  
worked or was accepted.  
  
He also demanded visual communications, which meant that Soun  
would have to leave his men right before a possible attack. Not good  
for morale.  
  
One of the troopers, a red-head in her early twenties, seemed to  
notice this. "You look like a troll took a leak in your koi pond," she  
said.  
  
"Lord Commander Hayes wishes to speak to me," he replied.  
  
A few soldiers whistled. They had heard of Hayes and his history,  
mostly through the Cadian 34th, stationed nearby. That regiment had  
nearly been wiped out by Hayes ordering a bombardment of an Ork camp  
five years ago. The fact that there were Cadian Shock Troops in the  
camp forcing the Orks into retreat at the time didn't bother him in  
the least.  
  
"Go talk to him sir," Ranma said. "We'll let the word spread  
you're fighting the greater enemy."  
  
Soun repressed a smirk. He liked this boy. On an impulse, he  
removed his plasma pistol from its holster on his belt and handed it  
to Ranma. "Carry it with pride," he said.  
  
Ranma took the pistol and ammo cells, a grave look on his face.  
"I'll make you proud sir."  
  
"Carry on." And with that Soun ran towards the command bunker,  
hoping that Hayes wasn't going to pull one of his usual stunts.  
  
***  
  
Behind trench section 437/23, manned by troops of the Tokyo First,  
First Company, almost forty tanks were parked. This was Seventh  
Company, the Tokyo Firsts Armoured Vehicles. So far, they had mostly  
remained behind the front lines, in case they were needed for a  
counter strike. They hadn't seen much action yet. The Support  
squadrons, consisting of the artillery pieces, were hard at work, and  
other tanks had deployed from time to time, but as a whole, the  
majority of the company had remained there.  
  
That looked like it was about to change.  
  
Captain Misato Katsuragi examined the pictures taken by the  
Imperial ships in orbit. The rebels had been hit hard in several  
areas, with Guard forces assisted by Space Marines from three  
different chapters. Pushed back on several fronts, they were adopting  
a new trick.  
  
Hit your enemy hard on another front, forcing them to divert  
resources there, weakening the offensive on the fronts that you're  
losing on.  
  
Which was why a large amount of rebel soldiers and armoured  
vehicles were moving towards the First Company. Although reports were  
coming over the comm-net concerning the sighting of the familiar grey-  
clothed infantry, the majority of the troops appeared to be the elite  
troops of the former Imperial Governers personal army. Wearing heavy  
body armour and carrying powerful autoguns, these rebels were far more  
powerful and dangerous.  
  
In addition to the heavy infantry, there were also new designs of  
vehicles on the move. The two most obvious ones were a large form of  
power armour, designated the K-Suit by the campaign intelligence, and  
a small helicopter, designated the Wasp.  
  
"Ryoji, take a look at this." Lieutenant Kaji Ryoji, commanding  
officer of the companies Armoured fist platoon, had a look at the  
data-slate.  
  
"Looks like First Company gets to fight today," he commented,  
adjusting his ponytail. Misato nodded. "Looks like their flanks are  
exposed though, and their infantry is moving ahead of the armoured  
support. The only vehicles reaching the trenches alongside the  
infantry should be the Wasps, K-Suits and Sentinels."  
  
Misato nodded. Kaji had been a tank commander back in Tokyos civil  
war, and had just as much armour experience as her. "I say we move  
into no-mans-land out near third company, then hit them in the flank  
before they have time to reposition."  
  
"I like it," Kaji replied. "Even ff they see us coming and turn to  
face us, that leaves their weaker side armour open to the infantry  
weapons in the trenches."  
  
"I'd rather not have the foot-sloggers have to deal with the  
tanks," Misato muttered. "They'll be having enough fun with the rebel  
troops." She jogged over to her tank and took a comm-set from her  
gunner. After a minute, she was talking to General Tendo, who approved  
the plan. Handing the comm-set back to her gunner, she signalled to  
Kaji, who started bellowing orders. Other squadron commanders began  
getting their men into their vehicles. Engines began to warm up,  
purring in the late afternoon light.  
  
***  
  
Ash arrived in the front trenches just as the first shots were  
fired. He handed Lina several tanks of flamer fuel, and tossed a box  
of missiles to the launchers loader.  
  
"Okay, Lina, I want that flamer ready," Ranma said, flicking the  
safety off his pistol. "Until then, stick to your lasgun. Kensuke,  
three frags into infantry. Then pester that Sentinel Squadron with a  
few Kraks. Shinji, start targeting anyone that looks important."  
  
The first flickers of enemy lasfire began to pass over their  
heads. Kensuke rose to his feet, rocket launcher on his shoulder. He  
launched a missile into a squad of annoying looking rebels some  
distance away before dropping back down.  
  
***  
  
Tenchi had set up his Autocannon just in time. He was spraying the  
large rounds across the light infantry that was approaching his  
position. Along the trench, hundreds of other guardsmen did the same.  
  
The attack was staged differently this time. Usually, the rebels  
launched an attack on a large area of trenches, usually involving an  
entire Guard regiment at least. Here, they were focused on one small  
point, intending to punch through and cause large amounts of havoc  
behind the front lines.  
  
Tenchi watched as Imperial and rebel jet fighters wove their way  
through the sky. The battles on the ground were long, hard and brutal.  
The battles in the sky seemed were short and almost graceful, but no  
less brutal.  
  
As he always did at least once per battle, he asked himself what  
he'd been thinking when he signed up. He peppered a squad of rebels  
with an extended burst of Autocannon fire, sending them running as the  
rest of the squad joined in.  
  
Then a new sound began to make itself visible over the gunfire. It  
was the sound of helicopters. Fast ones. Tenchi saw them a few seconds  
after he heard them. They were little more then the framework of a  
helicopter, with an Autocannon and searchlight on its belly, and the  
pilot wearing a form of body armour. They weren't very well armoured  
at all, but they were fast.  
  
These must be those Wasps I've heard about, Tenchi thought to  
himself. He raised the aim of his cannon slightly, and let off a short  
burst the reduced the pilot to mush. The Wasp lost control, crashing  
into the ground.  
  
In the time it took to kill one, other Wasps were almost at the  
trenches. Assorted heavy weapons took some of them out of the battle,  
but some of them began strafing the trenches. Others moved further  
into Imperium territory, creating havoc until several tanks reduced  
them to rubble.  
  
A large number of soldiers turned their attention to the Wasps  
flying above them, bringing them down in short order. Several of them  
crashed in the trenches, killing a number of Guardsmen.  
  
Tenchi ignored them, focusing his weapon on infantry. The numbers  
of the grey-cloaked soldiers were dropping. That was the good news.  
The bad news was that the gaps were being filled by soldiers wearing  
dark blue body armour, their faces hidden by bulky helmets and  
breathing masks.  
  
Then the soldier saw something far worse. It was like an armed and  
armoured version of the old power suits he remembered from  
construction yards on Tokyo. Big and bulky, armed with all sorts of  
unpleasant weapons and ready to kill. The K-Suits.  
  
***  
  
The elite shock troops of the rebels were moving in towards the  
Imperial trenches, their body armour keeping the death rate lower then  
the average. General Tendo returned to the front lines (Hayes had  
wanted nothing more then an update) to find the situation worrying.  
  
Fourth platoon was getting the worst of it. The rebels reached  
them first, and the fighting there degenerated into nothing more then  
a brawl. Guardsmen from behind the front lines were moving in to help  
out their side, and soon the number of dead shock troops began to  
rise. All the body armour in the world can't help when someone sticks  
a twenty centimetre bayonet through your visor and into your skull.  
  
Several K-suits were getting in worryingly close. Several of them  
were carrying grenade launchers, and lobbed explosive charges up in  
the air and down into the trenches. First platoon was suffering large  
numbers of attacks of this nature, until the Lieutenant was killed by  
a shock troops autogun. Sergeant Schofield took over command of the  
platoon, pulling his men back into several other trenches. As the  
rebels jumped down into the trenches, they found that First platoon  
had left behind a number of unpleasant surprises in the form of  
grenades and land mines. When the amount of airborne shrapnel went  
down, Schofield lead the charge back in. Lina and several over  
troopers were right alongside him, flamers roaring.  
  
Ranma ducked a punch from a rebel, before blowing off his face  
with a shot from his plasma pistol. Another one leapt at him, combat  
knife outstretched. Ranma neatly sidestepped the man, tripping him  
over. As he fell, Ranma stabbed him through the neck with his own  
knife.  
  
The body held onto the knife, so Ranma was left with only a pistol  
in his hand. Not that this really bothered him as he continued to  
carve a path through the blue-armoured rebels, his squad close behind  
him.  
  
Suddenly Ash Ketchum dropped, everything below his left kneecap  
missing. The pain was too much for him to even scream.  
  
Ranma glanced around, trying to find the attacker. Then he saw the  
K-Suit standing on the edge of the trench, Autocannon smoking. "Ikari,  
get Ketchum out of here," he ordered. The shy youth nodded and helped  
Ash up, before dropping back towards the secure trenches for a medic.  
  
With the familiar roar of fire, Lina attacked the K-Suit, only to  
see the machines pilot aim the Autocannon at her. She leapt aside,  
letting the dirt wall behind her take the attack.  
  
"Eat this!" Ranma yelled, opening up with his pistol. White hot  
plasma detonated against the K-Suit. When the steam cleared, the  
armour was missing it's Autocannon and had a number of cracks and  
impact craters across it.  
  
One guardsman climbed out of the trench and fired a las-blast at  
the visor that passed for it's face. The beam was slightly high,  
impacting on the side of the suits head. In response, the K-Suit  
lashed out with it's left fist, catching a soldier and reducing the  
mans torso to pulp.  
  
Before the pilot had a chance to react, Ranma leapt out out of the  
trench and ran towards the K-Suit. In his hands he held a lasgun with  
a bayonet attached. He stabbed through the visor, before firing a las-  
blast into the surprised pilots face. The suit fell forward, narrowly  
missing Ranma.  
  
The rebels nearby were in shock. One of their mighty K-Suits  
defeated by a single man.  
  
The guardsmen didn't give them time to recover, killing those in  
the trenches and pushing forward.  
  
***  
  
General Tendo slashed with his power sword, the energy field  
around the blade carving the rebels in two, regardless of body armour.  
His bodyguard squad was right alongside him, and second and third  
platoon on each side.  
  
The battles had now left the trenches and moved into no-mans-land.  
Rebels and Guardsmen fought for their lives, but the Guardsmen were  
starting to get the upper hand.  
  
For now. Already, the armoured vehicles behind the rebel infantry  
force were moving in. Transports released more shock troops, and the  
heavier tanks braced for firing. Then they spoke, with a roar that  
seemed to shatter the world.  
  
Explosions ripped through second platoon as the enemy tanks  
unleashed their main guns. Two squads were wiped out to a man. Tenchi  
was slammed into the remains of a K-Suit and knocked out. Ryo was  
engulfed in flames, but managed to put out the fire and play dead.  
  
The strike destroyed the morale of the platoon, and they began to  
fall back. The rebel tanks and infantry began to advance.  
  
***  
  
Misato watched as second platoon was overwhelmed. "Range?" she  
asked.  
  
"One point five kilometres. Thirty seconds until main guns will be  
in range."  
  
Misato's command tank, a Leman Russ Exterminator, would take even  
longer before any of it's anti-infantry weapons would be in range. The  
first salvo would be launched by the standard model Leman Russ' and  
the Vanquisher variant. The other models would have to wait.  
  
The first salvo hit hard, ripping through a number of rebel tanks,  
reducing them to tinfoil. Another salvo followed a few seconds later,  
hitting let more tanks on their weaker side armour.  
  
A number of rebel tanks attempted to turn, but only found  
themselves jammed in by other tanks.  
  
"We're in range!" Captain Katsuragi's gunner yelled.  
  
"Target all weapons and fire!" Misato yelled.  
  
The turret of the Exterminator moved to the left slightly, and the  
twin-linked Autocannons began spitting out rounds. The Heavy Bolter  
mounted in the front section of the hull and the two on the side  
sponsons also opened fire, launching death into the rebels midst.  
  
This scene was repeated along the line of Tokyo tanks. The rebels  
were caught out of position with the flank attack, and they were  
paying the price.  
  
General Tendo led the infantry forward, carving a path through the  
rebels. Caught between the enemy and their own tanks, the rebels died  
quickly.  
  
e rear access hatches opening to reveal several dozen soldiers,  
weapons ready. Heavy weapons were brought to bear on the rear armour,  
crippling and destroying even more.  
  
Soon, it was over.  
  
***  
  
Ranma entered the infirmary, a calm look on his face. In reality,  
he was very worried. Over half of his remaining troopers were here  
recovering from injuries. Four men, all badly injured. The other three  
remaining members of his squad all had bandages and stiches, himself  
included.  
  
"Hey Ranma," a familiar voice muttered. Ranma turned to see Tenchi  
standing there. "How'd you come out of this one?"  
  
"Three dead, all of us injured," Ranma replied. "I heard about  
second platoon. I'm sorry."  
  
Tenchi nodded, grief clouding his features. Out of almost forty  
men, seven remained alive, Tenchi one of them. They'd been transferred  
to first platoon. "I figured you know. Need another soldier?"  
  
Ranma smiled for the first time that day. "I'll be more then happy  
to have you as part of my squad. Welcome aboard."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
Ranma and Tenchi walked down the aisle, looking through the beds.  
What they saw wasn't pleasant. Men and women missing limbs, some  
getting casts, some on life support as medics tried to make them ready  
to fight again. Ranma hated it, just like he hated the rest of this  
bloody war.  
  
At last they came across a familar face. Namely that of Lina.  
She'd been hit on the side of the head by the butt of an autogun,  
leaving her with a concussion. "Hey boss," she muttered weakly, "I  
guess I was worth visiting after all."  
  
"Of course you are," Ranma replied. "How are you feeling?"  
  
"Lousy," Lina said. "The food here stinks too. You'll think those  
MRE's are a feast once you end up here."  
  
"They have everything you need to heal quickly," the Tokyo  
Regiments chief medic said as he walked towards them. Tofu Ono was  
rather young, but had an impressive amount of skill and experience. A  
good number of the soldiers owed their lives to him already.  
  
"Yeah, well you forgot taste," Lina grumbled.  
  
"Just follow Docs orders," Ranma said. "First company is dropping  
back from the front line for a bit, at least until we can replace our  
losses. I've been told there's at least a hundred new soldiers on  
their way from Tokyo. They left a few weeks back, and should be here  
soon."  
  
"Great, rookies," Lina muttered.  
  
"That was us just a few weeks ago," Tenchi pointed out. Lina  
nodded and grumbled a bit. After bidding her farewell, they searched  
out the rest of their squad.  
  
Shinji was sitting in a fold out chair next to Ash, who was sound  
asleep. As Ranma and Tenchi approached, he put the book down and stood  
up to salute the Corporal. "How is he?" Ranma asked.  
  
"Doctor Tofu managed to stop the bleeding," Shinji said quietly.  
"There's still a good chance of him going into shock though. They're  
attaching the bionics tomorrow."  
  
Ranma nodded. Shinji looked as bad as many of the injured in terms  
of sheer exhaustion. "Head back to your billet and crash," he said.  
"You need the sleep."  
  
Shinji nodded, saluted, then wandered towards the door, yawning as  
he went.  
  
"Nice kid," Tenchi commented.  
  
"Bit of an introvert," Ranma replied, "but one hell of a sniper,  
and loyal as hell." He knelt down next to Ash. The man's face was pale  
and soaked in sweat. Ranma sighed. He'd lost a lot of friends today,  
people he'd come to know and care about over the past few months.  
People he'd worked alongside in basic training, people he sparred  
with, people that had saved his life during the time spent at  
Redermade.  
  
As he looked at Ash, who was now missing a leg, he found himself  
experiencing the most common of human emotions. Hatred. He hated these  
rebels, he wanted to kill them. He still hated killing, but he could  
tell that he didn't hate the thought as much as he used to. Now that  
frightened him.  
  
Standing up again, he wandered off, looking for the other two  
injured men from his squad.  
  
Both of the last two men were awake, and Doctor Tofu said they'd  
be free to go in a few hours.  
  
"That could have gone better," Tenchi muttered as they left the  
infirmary.  
  
Ranma nodded. "They'll all live, and that's the important thing."  
  
***  
  
The viewscreen leaning against the tin wall of Tendo's command  
bunker showed nothing but snow for a brief moment, before being  
replaced by the image of Lord Commander Hayes. Tendo saluted.  
  
"Congratulations on defeating the rebel attack earlier General,"  
Hayes began. "I assume you are familiar with current rebel positions  
in your area?" When Tendo nodded Hayes continued. "The rebel forces in  
sector 3126/sa were responsible for the attack on your regiments.  
Because of the damage you inflicted, they're dangerously undermanned.  
We're going to take advantage of that. All Imperial Guard regiments  
surrounding Kell Hive will begin to move in on the city at 0800 hours  
tomorrow. Logistics will send you regimental orders within the hour.  
Dismissed."  
  
And with that, the screen went blank. Tendo sighed in relief. At  
least Hayes had only talked for a minute or two. If he'd continued,  
the fool would have gone on for ages.  
  
And he had a feeling he had a lot of work to do by tomorrow  
morning.  
  
***  
  
Washuu pulled the goggles away from her eyes, and looked at her  
latest creation.  
  
"What is that?" Tenchi said. Ranma nodded his agreement to that  
question.  
  
"I call it the Blazer," Washuu said proudly. "I noticed that the  
Tokyo Regiments didn't really have any high speed recon patrols.  
There's a few Chimera and Salamander tanks from the armoured  
companies, but they're not much to write home about. Anyway, I used  
the anti-gravitic plates used in a number of craft, modified it for  
use on a smaller frame, reinforced the frame with depleted dalekium,  
installed a standard Hellslayer power plant for propulsion and the  
built in lasguns-"  
  
"Hey, take it easy Washuu," Tenchi said. "We're just soldiers, not  
tech-priests. We really don't understand it. Although those are very  
nice bikes."  
  
The were eight, currently unpainted hoverbikes taking up floor  
space in Washuu's workshop. The machines were rather smooth and  
curved, quite different from usual Imperial designs of big and bulky.  
There were two lasguns built into the Blazers, the barrel exit points  
on each side of the headlights.  
  
"So," Ranma said. "The big questions; Will the General like this  
idea of yours, and who gets to ride these things?"  
  
***  
  
Sergeant - no, now it was Lieutenant - Schofield removed the comm-  
set and handed it back to his XO. The General had just given him a  
commision, making him an officer. Along with the promotion, he'd been  
given a number of orders. The current situation was moving so fast  
that Tendo couldn't bring in all the officers and brief them.  
  
"Get all of first platoons squad leaders here in ten minutes," he  
told one of the men from his squad. The trooper nodded and ran off.  
Schofield turned his attention to just what he would say to his men.  
  
Eight minutes later, the last squad leader turned up just as  
Schofield was putting on his new rank pins. "Okay people, orders from  
the General. All regiments are mobilising at 0800 tomorrow. The rebels  
are suffering from putting so much into the recent attacks and the  
Lord Commander intends to make them suffer even more. We're being  
deployed as a recon unit, ahead of the main force. The plan is to  
assist recon squadrons from the armoured companies as well as other  
platoons in this role." He outlined all of the specific squad  
assignments, coming to Ranma last. "Catch," he said, tossing Ranma a  
small object. Ranma caught it, and blinked in surprise when he saw  
that it was a Sergeants rank pin.  
  
"The General's got a new plan. Some tech-priest built some new  
high-speed bikes, and she recommended you to command them. The General  
agreed, and gave you a promotion to boot. You still report to me, but  
you'll be spending a decent amount of time further away. Oh, and he  
said he wants his pistol back." The last comment was said with no  
small amount of confusion.  
  
Ranma made a note to take the pistol back later.  
  
***  
  
"The Blazers?" Tenchi muttered. "Washuu recommended you to command  
so she could try out her new toy on me."  
  
"You've known her for a long time," Ranma said.  
  
"Remember all those people that used to live in my house? Washuu  
was one of them. She had a bunch of Servitors build her a lab under  
the house."  
  
"Nice. That would have helped with repairs."  
  
"Oh, we had plenty of repairs," Tenchi muttered. He could still  
remember it well, even now. Crown Princess of Jurai Ayeka, the  
genetically modified Ryouko, Ayeka's little sister Sasami, Tenchi's  
grandfather, all parts of the mayhem that was his life. He remembered  
it well, and he missed it, but it was taken from him long before he  
joined the Guard.  
  
"Well, there's eight bikes at least," Ranma was saying, pulling  
Tenchi back to the present. "We'll be able to fill six of them now,  
and when Ash and Lina get out we'll fill two more. See if you convince  
Washuu to build one more, with a sidecar carrying a heavy weapon of  
some sort."  
  
***  
  
While the majority of the Tokyo Regiments packed up and prepared  
to move out, Ranma was busy getting his men used to the Hovercycles.  
It was going better then he expected. At least all of his men had  
riden some sort of two wheeled vehicle, although two of them had only  
ridden bicycles in the past.  
  
Ranma adjusted the power outage slightly, ducking between two  
tanks, before swinging hard left to blast a simple bulls-eye target  
with the built in lasguns. Tenchi and Hiroshi were close behind,  
blowing apart two more targets.  
  
Ranma was in the middle of a pure adrenaline rush. He hadn't had  
this much fun in weeks. He wasn't fighting, which was strange for him,  
he was just having fun. Sure, he was doing this to train himself and  
his squad in riding these beasts, but it was having a good effect on  
him.  
  
And from the looks of it, it was helping the rest of the squad, as  
well as those watching. Several tank crews had had gotten their hands  
on a few training lasguns (Low powered beams that didn't even make a  
rash) and were helping his squad dodge las-fire, as well as taking  
potshots at a picture of Lord Commander Hayes.  
  
General Tendo watched, unnoticed, from a short distance away. When  
Tech-priestess Washuu Hibuki built the Blazer Hovercycles, he'd seen  
it as a fast recon unit.  
  
He hadn't expected it to boost morale as well. But he was happy to  
see that it did. His men were tired, injured and hurting from the loss  
of many of their team-mates and friends. They deserved a chance to  
smile, to have something to laugh about.  
  
After all, tomorrow would be another hard day for them.  
  
***  
  
Night fell over the trenches, and many troopers attempted to get some  
sleep. Ranma made sure the bikes were safe, then made his way to his  
squads section of the trench.  
  
Tenchi and Lina were cooking eggs over a gas burner. "Just in  
time," Lina said, scratching at the bandage wrapped around her head  
like a bandanna.  
  
"When did you get out of the infirmary?" Ranma asked. "And where'd  
you find eggs?"  
  
"Doc said I was okay to to go about half an hour ago, and I got  
the eggs off an officer from Second Company in a game of cards while I  
was there."  
  
Ranma smiled as he sat down. "Got enough for one more soldier?"  
  
"Sure thing," Lina said. She pulled more eggs out of her bag. "Got  
enough for everyone."  
  
The group was silent for a while as the eggs cooked on the  
hotplate. Finally, Lina spoke up. "I heard about the bikes. Got one  
for me?"  
  
Ranma nodded. "No way I'd leave you out of this. You got any  
experience with hovercycles?"  
  
"You remember the old J-9300-T Tornado gravbikes?"  
  
"I remember seeing a few from the Tornado series back on Tokyo,  
but I was never into bikes much," Ranma said.  
  
"Owned the old girl for three years until some punk blew it up. I  
can handle the Blazers."  
  
"Good," Ranma said. "I wonder how long this war will last?" he  
said quietly, looking up at the night sky, the smog clouds blocking  
the stars as usual.  
  
"Does it matter?" Lina said. "Once it's over, we'll end up on  
another planet, fighting another war. Then another war after that, and  
so on until we die."  
  
"That's a lousy outlook on life," Tenchi commented.  
  
"You didn't let me finish," Lina replied. "But along the way, we  
make sure to take extra care of the good. There are stories all around  
the regiment now about the new bike squad. It's a good story!" She  
grinned. "I heard you lost to Hiroshi in a drag race," she said to  
Tenchi, a grin on her face.  
  
"There was a rock in the way," Tenchi muttered.  
  
"The fact I'm trying to make is simple," Lina continued, ignoring  
Tenchi's protests, "is that just despite all the lousy things that  
will happen to us over our time as Guardsmen, there are still things  
worth living for. Little moments of joy, times of happiness, life  
itself. But we have to do it one day at a time. If we look too far  
ahead, we'll be telling ourselves that one day we'll die in a war,  
clipped by a las-round, blown up by a grenade... It doesn't matter  
how. But by looking at today, we can enjoy those little moments, as  
rare or as common as they may be."  
  
Ranma nodded, a thoughtful look on his face. "You're right," he  
said quietly. "Thanks Lina, I've been feeling a bit lousy lately."  
  
"I noticed," she replied. "Care to tell us why?"  
  
Ranma shrugged. "It's just looking back at what keeps on  
happening. So many friends dead, for what seems like a pointless war.  
Breaking away from the Imperium is crazy! They've got the firepower to  
beat even a Hive world, and it makes more sense to have the Imperium  
on your side when trouble comes your way."  
  
"Power does strange things to people," Tenchi said. "I've seen it  
happen before."  
  
"But what scares me the most is that I'm starting to want to kill  
the rebels. I was raised to believe that you should never kill except  
as the very last resort. But now...." He shook his head sadly. "I  
don't know, maybe I'm paranoid, but I'm afraid that I might start  
enjoying it."  
  
"If that happens to me," Lina said, "I'll stick a laspistol in my  
mouth. I've come across too many Chaos followers in the past that  
enjoyed killing. Some of them got sexual pleasure out of it. I believe  
that enjoying death is the first step to the Chaos Gods. It's best if  
you enjoy the good things in life, and keep the bad from overwhelming  
you."  
  
The trio were quiet from then, as Lina placed the eggs on a few  
plates. After a few minutes of eating, Lina piped up again. "So,  
what're the plans for tomorrow?"  
  
***  
  
Morning came, although it didn't really improve the appearance of  
the areas around the Imperial trenches. Not that it mattered, since  
everyone would be leaving soon anyway.  
  
Hundreds of trucks were parked behind a protective line of tanks  
and infantry. Thousands of soldiers tossed their gear aboard, then  
climbed on themselves.  
  
In one of the infirmaries, Doctor Ono supervised the loading of  
injured onto other trucks, which would return to Fesal Hive, safely  
under Imperial control.  
  
The Basilisk artillery tanks continued to fire on Kell Hive, out  
of sight to the naked eye, hidden by the constant smog that blocked  
everything.  
  
A number of tank and infantry squads moved out, scouting ahead of  
the armies. And from trench section 437/23, seven hoverbikes raced  
towards whatever lay ahead of them.  
  
On the lead bike, Ranma adjusted his goggles. "Ten minutes to  
first nav point people. Keep your eyes open for any enemy movement."  
  
The squad signalled back their acknowledgement. "This is a  
pleasant change, isn't it?" Lina asked over the comm-link.  
  
"Damn straight," Ranma replied. "Better then the trenches." In the  
distance, he saw several tanks, marked with Tokyo badges, moving at  
high speed through no-mans-land. They suddenly veered left and  
vanished from sight behind a rock emplacement.  
  
  
  
It was still soldier work, something he had come to hate, but here  
he felt like he was doing something worthwhile. And that was one of  
the reasons he enlisted in the first place.  
  
***  
  
End Part Two.  
  
***  
  
I finished the first draft of this at 10:47pm on the 26/2/2001.  
Less then a month after I released part one. That's my best yet, most  
likely because I didn't have a fun mental block.  
  
What's to come in part three? The Tokyo Regiments continue to  
change through their new experience, Washuu continues on with her  
inventions, and Ranma and his recon squad make a gruesome discovery.  
Oh, and Space Marines tossed into the bargain!  
  
Some people may accuse me of being unrealistic with how Ranma was  
given command of a recon squad. Just remember, this is a brand new  
regiment. Although they have some experience from a civil war on their  
homeworld, this war is unlike the one they have fought. Over the past  
century there have been many examples of military forces changing in  
structure and tactics between and even during wars. What may have  
worked in Europe may not work in the Pacific, so to speak.  
  
My thanks to everyone that prereads this for me, and anyone that  
reads it in any other way. Compliments, suggestions and ideas may be  
sent to Matrix-Dragon@Usa.Net. Insults, flames and death threats may  
be sent to Saddam@Iraq.gov :)  
  
Matrix Dragon  
"Insert humorous quote here." 


	3. Part Three

Matrix Dragon Presents....  
  
Soldiers of the Imperium  
Part three  
  
Disclaimer: Everyone, you know who you belong to.  
  
***  
  
Fesal Hive mostly looked like an imposing spike, a rod of steel  
that reached up through the thick cloud layer that covered the  
resource depleted planet. The centre of the Imperial war machine on  
Redermade, the hive was the first stop for any of the thousands of  
soldiers transported here to fight the former planetary governor and  
his armies.  
  
Just under a hundred troopers, wearing the dark green uniforms of  
the Tokyo Regiments, stepped off the transport shuttle. They were  
replacements for the troopers killed in combat over the past few  
weeks. The majority of them were raw rookies, only given basic  
training. A few were veterans of Tokyo's civil war over a year ago,  
with enough experience to attempt to whip the rookies into shape.  
  
One of them was far more experienced then the rest of them. She  
was a woman in her mid twenties, with short, spiky, purple hair. She  
wore the dark black long-coat and peaked cap of the Commissars. A  
chain sword was slung over her shoulder, and a laspistol was holstered  
on her belt.  
  
She gave off a very imposing figure, but what truly unnerved  
people were her eyes. They seemed rock hard, consisting of solid  
determination and dedication. The soldiers stood slightly apart from  
her.  
  
She led the group of soldiers across the landing strip, over to a  
man that was waiting near several light trucks. Like the soldiers, he  
wore the uniform of the Tokyo First. He had several bandages, and his  
neck had several burn marks. He saluted to the woman. "Trooper Saeba,  
Tokyo First."  
  
The woman saluted in return. "Commissar Konoko, acting commander  
of your reinforcements."  
  
Saeba looked at the soldiers, mostly boys and girls in their late  
teens/early twenties. "They don't look like much. They any good?"  
  
"They will be if they want to survive," Commissar Konoko replied.  
  
"That's true," Saeba said. "Climb on board," he added, pointing at  
the trucks. "The sooner we get to the front the better. This place  
makes me sick."  
  
Konoko nodded and yelled out orders to the troops, who quickly got  
on board. As they climbed in, she noticed Saeba scratching at the burn  
marks. "How'd you get them?" she asked.  
  
"Back in the last major rebel strike on our position," Saeba said  
with a scowl. "The rebels were more of the armoured shock troops, and  
they actually made it into the trenches. We forced them out, then  
followed close behind, intent on taking them out of the war, not to  
mention deal with the tanks. The next thing we knew, the fraggers in  
the tanks started firing on us, while we were duking it out with their  
comrades. Killed as many of their own as they did us."  
  
The Commissar noticed the soldiers listening in. She pretended to  
ignore them. This seemed to be telling of how the enemy was so cold-  
hearted that they would sacrifice their own men. That was something  
that could be used to motivate the men, if she worked it right.  
  
"Some loser rebel was killed during the shelling. He died with his  
finger on his flamers trigger. I got tagged. Spent a few days in the  
infirmary. A few more days and I'll be healed up and back in the  
action, and none too soon! I'm eager to pay those bastards back." The  
rookies cheered at this.  
  
Konoko considered this. These new soldiers still believed all the  
stories about the military. Stories like this appealed to their minds.  
It could easily be used to inspire hatred against the rebels. She  
placed the idea in the back of her head for later consideration,  
closed her eyes and tried to catch some sleep. She had a feeling she  
was going to be very busy over the coming months.  
  
***  
  
Far to the east of Fesal Hive, a column of rebel troops were  
making their way towards the Imperial lines. It had been four days  
since the Imperial forces began to advance on Kell Hive, and the  
rebels had been launching a number of attacks of the forces. None of  
these attacks had consisted of any real power. In fact, the Tokyo  
Regiments hadn't needed to do anything other then blast them with long  
range artillery shelling.  
  
The same thing was going to happen to these particular rebels.  
Unknown to them, seven hoverbikes were parked behind a small sand  
dune. On top of the dune, several soldiers were crouched down,  
watching the rebels. "Nice collection," Sergeant Ranma Saotome  
muttered. "It won't stand a chance, but it's still a decent size."  
  
"What's with them?" Lina Inverse said. "The number of troops and  
armour down there adds up to one, maybe two companies... That wouldn't  
make a dent in the Imperial forces."  
  
"Who cares why?" Ranma replied. "Leave that to the intelligence  
boys. All we have to do is transmit this lots location to Seventh  
Company, then deal with any survivors once they're finished." He took  
the comm-link from one of his men, and switched to the channel used by  
the Tokyo First. Informing the Artillery Batteries of the rebel  
position, Ranma sat back to watch. He knew that ten miles away, the  
crews of the Basilisk tanks in the Tokyo Regiments armoured companies  
were loading the explosive 40cm shells into their vehicles Earthshaker  
cannons. He'd seen the results of a Basilisk attack before, but he had  
to make sure the shells reached their destination. The indirect firing  
used at such long ranges wasn't completely accurate.  
  
Soon, the morning was shattered as two rebel tanks exploded in  
flames. Soldiers scattered in confusion, only to find themselves  
falling pray to more explosions. The Earthshaker shells were more then  
capable of reducing a town to rubble in a matter of minutes. This  
group of rebels was no different, and the crews of the Basilisk tanks  
in seventh company were more then up to the task. After a few minutes,  
Ranma turned away, and walked down to the bottom of the sand dune.  
"Tenchi, are the bikes ready?"  
  
"All set," the trooper replied, kick starting his own bike. Ranma  
got comfortable on his own, and yelled to his men to get ready to  
move.  
  
About a minute and a half later the Basilisk tanks stopped their  
shelling. Ranma twisted the throttle on his bike and led his men over  
the sand dune and into what was left of the rebels. It was nothing  
more then a slaughter. There were about twenty rebels left alive, most  
of them injured, some deafened and blinded by the shelling. One  
strafing run later, and the rebels were all dead.  
  
Following Ranma's orders, the squad moved on to the next nav   
point.  
  
They rode in silence for several minutes, the only sounds that of  
their bikes low hum, and the sounds of the Imperial forces to the  
west. "You alright?" Lina asked, noticing the sickened look on her  
commanders face.  
  
"Just a little crook," Ranma replied. "I can't help but wonder  
what those rebel generals are thinking. Do they want to kill off all  
their men?"  
  
"Mankind is a strange thing," Lina said. "No one ever said they  
had to make sense."  
  
Ranma nodded, then turned his attention elsewhere as his head set  
buzzed all of a sudden. "Saotome, this is Schofield," the platoon  
Lieutenant said over the link. "What's your current position?"  
  
Ranma pulled a data-slate out of his jacket pocket and checked the  
map. "Quadrant 6, Sector 9-12."  
  
"Head for Quadrant 7, Sector 8-02. I'll be waiting there. Out."  
  
Ranma turned to his men. "The Lieutenant wants to meet up with  
him. Let's not keep the man waiting." He banked hard left, his squad  
following close behind.  
  
***  
  
From an observers point of view, the Imperial Guard certainly  
looked like it could live up to its claim of being the largest army in  
history. In a constantly tightening circle around Kell Hive, tens of  
thousands of soldiers marched forward. Some were on foot, others in  
various vehicles.  
  
Slightly behind the first line of troops from the Tokyo regiments,  
a modified Chimera APC moved up alongside several cargo haulers. The  
markings along its side identified it as the personal transport of  
General Soun Tendo, commander-in-chief of the Tokyo Imperial Guard  
Regiments.  
  
"It doesn't make sense," Soun Tendo muttered. The holotank in  
front of him showed the Imperial advance, and the known positions of  
all rebel forces. For almost all of the several hundred kilometres to  
Kell Hive, the rebels were only a tiny number of dots. "The attacks  
they performed against Guard regiments before we began to advance were  
far more powerful then what we've seen over the past few days. There  
has to be a reason for it."  
  
"The hive is cut off," Misato Katsuragi pointed out. "They may be  
low on men. Either that, or they're keeping their men in the city to  
prepare for a siege."  
  
"Then why these small attacks?" asked Colonel Rezo, commander of  
the Tokyo Second. "Platoon and company sized forces attacking us right  
now is suicide, a waste of men and resources. It doesn't add up."  
  
"Penal Legions," said Captain Ulath, Tokyo Second.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"The soldiers we've been fighting are Imperial loyalists, people  
the rebels had to get rid of. What better way then sending them out to  
be killed by the people they support?"  
  
"Brutal, but unlikely," Soun said. "The soldiers we've been  
encountering were well equipped. It wouldn't make sense to give a  
suicide squad expensive equipment unless they had to deal out a large  
amount of damage."  
  
"And sending out a few dozen men will never do much damage to an  
entire army," Rezo muttered.  
  
"Well, there's not much we can do on that subject now except for  
guess. If it's possible, try and take some of the rebels alive for  
questioning. Next matter of interest." The image in the holotank  
changed to show a number of small towns between the Imperial Guard and  
Kell Hive. "These towns are all over the place. Some are built around  
mining operations, some acted as supply stations for interhive  
transports, and numerous over reasons. Over the past year, they've  
ended up having to choose sides. Those that have sided with the  
Imperium have been safely evacuated. As for those that didn't, most of  
the people in those villages had fled to the hives by the time Guard  
forces arrived. Those that remained usually tried attacking and ended  
up killed."  
  
"Over the past few days, Lieutenant Schofields recon platoon has  
come across a number of towns which are empty, yet nothing is  
missing," he continued. At the blank look from several officers he  
explained. "The power supplies to the houses are still on, vehicles  
are still parked in garages, everything that gives off the image of a  
small town on the surface of a Hive world, except that there isn't a  
person there. No bodies, no indication of where they left to."  
  
"If the townsfolk were leaving, they'd turn off the power no  
matter what," Misato said. "Resources are in such short supply on  
planets like these that they'd never be so wasteful."  
  
"True," Tendo replied. "Which makes this all the more mysterious."  
  
***  
  
"Ack!" Washuu exclaimed as the exhaust pipe belched a cloud of  
black smoke into her face. Stumbling back, she glared at the offending  
machine. "You think you're funny, don't you?"  
  
Being a machine, the Blazer hovercycle made no reply. Nearby, Ash  
Ketchum suppressed a grin. Washuu glared at him as well. "Hey, it's  
not my fault if you're having trouble with a grumpy machine," he said.  
  
Washuu nodded. "I know, I know. I've just been having a lousy day.  
Maybe I should - huh?"  
  
"What?" Ash asked, before he saw it too. A Commissar was walking  
towards them. While this common (and hated) sight was nothing unique,  
the fact that said Commissar was a woman was quite different.  
  
"You are Tech-priestess Hibuki?" the Commissar asked.  
  
Washuu nodded. "What can I do for you?"  
  
"I have been assigned to the bike recon squad which you designed  
the vehicles for. I'll be needing one myself."  
  
"Of course," Washuu said, turning her attention back to the partly  
finished Blazer. "You're in luck my friend. I was already building a  
new one, as a potential upgrade. The built in lasguns have been  
replaced with bolters. I assume you won't mind that change?"  
  
"No, I won't," the woman replied. She noticed Ash sitting nearby.  
"Is he your assistant?"  
  
"No, and thank the Machine God that he isn't," Washuu replied.  
"He's one of the men from the bike squad you'll be joining. Lost part  
of his leg the other day, and he's adjusting to the bionics. What's  
your name?"  
  
"Commissar Konoko. Where is Sergeant Saotome right now?"  
  
"Out on recon," Ash replied, handing Washuu a screwdriver. "They  
should be back in about two hours, although I heard over the comm-net  
that the Lieutenant found another ghost town."  
  
"Another one?" Washuu said, loosening a panel to get at some  
wires. "What's that, eight now?"  
  
"Nine, I think. Word is the General's ordered proper searches of  
each one."  
  
***  
  
"I thought it was closer to seven ghost towns," Lina said as the  
group of hoverbikes approached the town.  
  
"Yeah, well this makes it nine all up," Ranma replied, looking  
over the small collection of houses. None of them were in good  
condition, built from assorted scrap. From several of them, he could  
see the smoke let off by burning coal. On a world as resource starved  
as this one, wasting fuel was one of the ultimate sins. Yet the people  
of a number of small towns had simply vanished, leaving the power  
generators on.  
  
He spotted two Chimera APC's near the road leading into town, a  
number of soldiers standing around it. One bore the markings of First  
Company, the other of Seventh Company. The first one had to be the  
Lieutenants transport, built in Fesal Hive less then a week before.  
The other would most likely be one of the Armoured Fist Patrol squads,  
serving a similar role to the recon platoon.  
  
Lieutenant Schofield was standing next to his squads tank. He  
looked a lot like an officer from the Tokyo Defence Force, with his  
body armour hidden under an officers issue leather trenchcoat, with  
the Imperial Eagle on the left sleeve and the kite symbol of the Tokyo  
Regiments on the right.  
  
The eight man squad came to a halt near the tanks, Ranma saluting  
Lieutenant Schofield. "Sergeant Saotome, reporting as ordered."  
  
Both Schofield and the Armoured Fist squad leader - a Corporal,  
judging from his rank pins - saluted in reply. "You made good time,"  
Schofield said. "Sergeant, this is Corporal Hicks, commander of the  
Second Armoured Fist Patrol Unit, Seventh Company."  
  
"Pleasure to meet you Corporal," Ranma said.  
  
"Same here," Hicks replied.  
  
"Okay, park your bikes somewhere safe," Ranma ordered. "Daisuke,  
Tai, you've got guard detail. Everyone else with me. Let's go."  
  
***  
  
Ranma pushed the door open with his foot, then entered the home,  
lasgun ready. Unlocked. What kind of fool leaves their home unlocked  
on a planet like this?  
  
Lina followed close behind him, her flamer slung over her shoulder  
and a laspistol and knife in her hands. Tenchi was next, the rest of  
the squad close behind.  
  
Ranma and Lina entered the kitchen, other memebers of the squad  
moving through the rest of the house. "Yuk!" Lina commented, holding  
her nostrils shut, "they could have at least closed the cooler."  
  
Sure enough, the cooler door was wide open, the stench of spoiled  
food drifting out across the room. Ranma pushed it shut, then checked  
around the room. Everything was in it's place, simply adding to the  
mystery here.  
  
Tenchi entered one of the bedrooms. It looked like a teenagers  
room, due to the fact it looked like a bomb had hit it. There was even  
a data-slate lying on the bed. Tenchi picked it up. Porno, he  
thought as he keyed through a few images before tossing it back on the  
bed. Poor quality too. He checked under the bed and other large  
objects, finding nothing on any real value.  
  
Leaving the bedroom, he saw Shinji Ikari leaving another room. The  
sniper shook his head at his squad-mates unasked question. Then he  
froze. Quietly, he moved to a plasteel window, sniper rifle in hand.  
Tenchi moved up towards him. "Saotome, this is Ikari. Are any of our  
men around the side of the house?"  
  
"No," Ranma replied over the comm-net. "Everyone's inside this  
building."  
  
"Then we've got company."  
  
***  
  
Ranma and Lina slipped out of the front door, moving towards the  
side of the building. Quietly, Ranma slid a long knife from the sheath  
on his belt.  
  
Three men were moving down towards the backyard. Ranma stepped  
forward, raising his lasgun. "That's far enough," he said. "Turn  
around slowly." The three men turned, and Ranma got a good look at  
their armour. They wore heavy combat boots, gauntlets and fatigues,  
with an armoured breastplate over that, as well as two large  
shoulderpads. On the breastplate, there was the Imperium Eagle, and  
the left shoulderpad bore the symbol of a powerful dragon, the right  
had squad markings.  
  
"Space Marine Scouts," Ranma said. "I'm willing to bet that you  
had more of your team behind you." He spun on the spot, throwing his  
knife. It struck the wall of the house, next to another Scout, this  
one with Sergeants pins. "Those wooden boards on the veranda creaked.  
Pure bad luck on your part. I'm Sergeant Ranma Saotome, Tokyo First  
Regiment Recon Platoon."  
  
The scout nodded. "Sergeant Trunks, Eternal Dragons Space Marine  
Chapter Scout Company." Two more men stepped up behind Trunks. "The  
engine sounds we heard while passing this town were yours, I presume?"  
  
"Our bikes perhaps, or the two Chimeras that the other squads here  
came in." Ranma opened a channel on his headset. "Lieutenant, you're  
never going to believe what we've got here."  
  
***  
  
"What'd you find?" Schofield asked as his squad checked through a  
shop.  
  
"Space Marine Scouts. They heard the tanks and came to check."  
  
"Now that is a surprise. Are they staying or moving on?"  
  
"I'll check." There was a moments silence, during which time  
Schofield opened a cooler and checked the food. Most of it was still  
fresh. "They'll hang around. Their commander says he'll follow your  
orders."  
  
Schofield blinked at that. Space Marines usually had decades, even  
centuries of experience. The thought that they'd be following his  
orders - someone who spent five years as a grunt in the Tokyo Defence  
Force, one year as a sergeant and only just got promoted - was very  
hard to wrap his head around. He managed it though. "Give them our  
secondary comm-channel."  
  
"Sergeant Trunks reporting in," a new voice said a moment later.  
  
"How many men in your squad?" Schofield asked.  
  
"Seven. Two snipers, one rocket launcher and the rest carry  
boltguns or pistols."  
  
"Deploy your snipers and launcher in overwatch positions around  
the edge of town. The rest of your squad goes with Saotome. Corporal  
Hicks, status report."  
  
***  
  
"No sign of any life," Hicks answered. His squad was moving down  
the middle of a narrow street. "So far it's been residential. Looks  
like they just up and left."  
  
"Matches up with the other ghost towns I've seen," Trunks said.  
"This is just one big mystery."  
  
"Hey Corporal!" Hicks glanced to his left to see Trooper Hudson  
pointing at a large pile of scrap metal pretending to be a building.  
Over the front door was the symbol of the Imperial Eagle, hanging  
loosely from a number of rivets.  
  
"All squads, this is Hicks, I've found what appears to be the  
local law enforcement headquarters."  
  
"Check it out," Schofield ordered. Hicks sent two soldiers around  
each side of the building, to come in from the back, while he and the  
other three would come in the front.  
  
Nudging the doors open with his lasgun, Hicks led his men into the  
building. Inside it looked just as bad as outside, with everything  
built from scrap. Hicks just shook his head in disgust at the sloppy  
repairs to a broken water pipe. It seemed that on this planet, the  
only people to have anything decent were the noble families, with  
their near-limitless supply on money. Everyone else got whatever  
appeared to be lying around.  
  
Leading his men through the entry hall, he found himself in the  
workroom, containing the desks and machines used by the local lawmen  
(called Enforcers around here). Walking over to one codifier, he found  
it still turned on. Curious, he punched a few runes on the key-slate,  
calling up the personal log of the devices user. After that, he  
skimmed through the entries.  
  
-Can't believe I got posted to a worthless shanty like this. My  
career's over before it began!.  
  
-The locals here seem pleasant enough, although they seem a little  
wary of me. Could just be that I'm a stranger. Country folk around  
here ain't used to that.  
  
-There is something going on here. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I  
doubt it. I've been here almost two months and people are still  
nervous around me.  
  
-Came across a meeting between a townsman and a mutant today. I  
didn't get a good look at the townsman, and both of them escaped. The  
sarge seemed very interested.  
  
-The mutant case was closed, even though there were other  
sightings of the Chaos-tainted freaks. When I confronted the sarge  
about it, he laughed it off, saying how there are always mutants  
lurking near places like this, and every now and then, a few would be  
hunted down and killed, but now wasn't the time. I guess he's right.  
  
-Some of the people are acting very strange. I've noticed some of  
them missing for days at times. When anyone asks about it, they always  
make an excuse, like they were checking the water-collectors out of  
town. All I care about is that there's a traitor to humanity in this  
town. When I find him, he can make his explanations to the Emperor  
himself.  
  
-Old man Sader was murdered, seemingly by a mutant. He was torn  
apart by some sort of claws. The strange thing is, none of the locals  
seem to care. The sarge made requests for a Mutant kill-team from Kell  
to deal with the problem. It was denied. Now I know I'm not paranoid.  
  
Hicks came to the last entry on file. On a hunch, he decided to  
read the whole thing. He wasn't disappointed.  
  
- The sarge is dead. One of those... things took his head clean  
off. Gener's not in good shape, and Hadel's vanished somewhere. These  
mutants are unlike anything I could imagine. They came in and started  
killing. The scary thing is that some of the locals helped, even some  
of the Enforcers that have been here for a long time. Lockly, Emperor  
damn him, pulled a gun on the rest of us. That's what messed up Gener  
so much. The autopistol shredded his stomach.  
  
I've sent a message to Kell Hive, calling for backup, but I   
don't think it made it there. All I can do now is take as many of the   
bastards with me when I go to stand before the Emperor. May he   
forgive me for my failures here.  
  
------EOF------  
  
"Dammmmnnn," Hicks muttered, before tabbing his helmet mike. "All  
squad leaders this is Hicks. I've found something very interesting  
here."  
  
***  
  
"Are you sure about that?" Trunks asked as Hicks finished giving  
them the short version of what he found.  
  
"About as sure as I can be sir," Hicks replied over the comm-net.  
"We got lucky, and one of the Enforcers, as the local police are  
called, left his codifier on. Hold on a second." There was the sound  
of scraping metal over the link, causing all the squad leaders to  
flinch. "Looks like our friends did a little redecorating. There's  
some dried blood here. Not much, just the really tough stuff they  
couldn't wash off. They tried to hide the evidence."  
  
"You can't hide everything," Ranma said. "Bullet holes, spent  
rounds, everything that indicates a fight. There'd have to be at least  
some tiny amounts left and there was nothing at the other towns at  
all."  
  
"Ranma's right," Trunks said. "If mutants had taken the ghost  
towns by force, we'd have known it by now."  
  
"Cover up by the people upstairs?" Lina quipped, triple checking  
her flamer. She had a familiar sense of dread building.  
  
"I doubt it," Trunks replied. "A lot of those in the higher ranks  
are pretty paranoid, but I don't think they'd cover up mutant attacks.  
After all, every single soldier knows they're out there."  
  
"They always are," Schofield replied over the comm-net. He was  
right about that. Every planet across the Imperium had the problem of  
mutants. These subhuman creatures were almost always exiled or killed.  
But on planets like this, with a population in the tens of billions,  
there could be thousands of the beasts gathered together at times,  
more then enough to take over a village, or cause Imperial Guard  
Regiments some trouble.  
  
"Hey, look at that." Lina pointed at a building visible as the two  
squads turned a corner. At the end of the short dead-end street was a  
small fortress, a strange meshing of armour and stone acting as the  
outer walls.  
  
"Must be the town hall," Trunks decided. "It'd also serve as a  
last line of defence." He keyed his headset. "Lieutenant, we've found  
what appears to be the town hall. We're moving to search it."  
  
"Inform me the moment you find anything interesting," Schofield  
replied.  
  
***  
  
As Ranma expected, the Town Hall seemed to be empty. Both squads  
found nothing on the first or second floor, and the basement seemed to  
be coming up empty as well.  
  
Well, it was until Tenchi found a large armoured door. A few  
minutes later, men from both squads were gathered around it. It was  
locked, some sort of keypad the only way to open it. Ranma could see  
the locking bolts in the door. "A storeroom of some sort," Trunks  
said. "The locking system is familiar. Very resistant to conventional  
unlocking techniques, and explosive entry would set off more  
aggressive defensive measures, not to mention destroying everything in  
the room anyway."  
  
"You're the one with the experience," Ranma replied. "So how do we  
get in?"  
  
"Easy," Trunks said, drawing his sword from the scabbard on his  
back. He clicked a button on the hilt, and a light blue glow formed  
around the blade. "Use UNconventional unlocking techniques!" And with  
that, he slashed downward with the power sword, cutting through the  
lock easily.  
  
"Nice trick," Ranma commented, as Lina and Hiroshi pulled the door  
open. As the contents of the room became visible, several people  
gasped in surprise.  
  
It was a body, only just starting to decay. A rather large rifle  
was tightly gripped in the corpses hands, aimed in the general  
direction of the door. Carefully, Tenchi removed the gun from the  
body, safing it and placing it to the side.  
  
Ranma glanced at the rest of the storeroom, and understood just  
why they'd have this one locked. There were several dozen weapons  
racks, carrying firearms ranging from pistols to anti-tank weapons.  
"They really take their defence seriously here," he commented. "That's  
a lot of weaponry for such a small town."  
  
Trunks looked up from the body. "On a planet like this you can't  
be too careful. But take a look at this. This man didn't die of  
injuries or illness. He starved to death."  
  
"He sure tried not to," one of the scouts said, kicking a box with  
his foot. Several empty cans of food fell out a hole in the side.  
Ranma picked one up and looked at it. It had been picked clean, not a  
spot of food left.  
  
"He must have been here for months," Hiroshi said quietly. Several  
other soldiers nodded in agreement. "Hey, what was the name of that  
Enforcer that vanished, the one Corporal Hicks mentioned?"  
  
"I think it was Hadel," Trunks said. Ranma knelt down, and checked  
the name tag on the mans shirt. Sure enough it said Hadel.  
  
"I'll be damned. Nice guess Hiroshi." He keyed his headset, and  
informed the other squads of his find. He was ordered to have some men  
secure the site, while the rest of his squad continued the search.  
  
"Hey, take a look at this," Lina said, holding up a rifle she  
pulled off a rack. Ranma took a look and blinked in surprise. It was  
one of the old Mark 2 Boltguns. Bigger and uglier then the more common  
Mark 3, it was still no less effective.  
  
"Talk about a classic," Ranma commented, spotting about five more  
M-2 Bolters and ten M-3's. Lina placed the M-2 back and grabbed an M-  
3, along with several clips of ammunition. "What're you doing Lina?"  
  
"Simple," the red-head replied as she made her way along a wall  
until she found a nice looking bolt pistol, "I'm shopping."  
  
"You're what?" Tenchi said.  
  
"Shopping. Look, the villagers are gone, so they're not going to  
be used by anyone around here, except for the enemy. I say we use 'em  
to surprise anyone that thinks they can outgun the Guard!"  
  
Ranma glanced at Trunks, who shrugged, as if saying 'they're your  
men,' before turning his attention to the door locks.  
  
"Ah, why not?" he decided, grabbing a Mark 3 Bolter, some ammo,  
and a bolt pistol. Several other soldiers also grabbed bolters and  
grenades, the other weapons racks largely ignored as the rifles were  
weaker then the bolters, and they were a recon squadron, meaning heavy  
weapons would only get in the way, although Hiroshi grabbed a rocket  
launcher and a few rockets (He missed his old one that he'd had to  
give up for the bikes).  
  
"This door was locked from the inside," Trunks said suddenly,  
drawing everyone's attention.  
  
"Say what?" Lina replied.  
  
"I'm serious Guardsman. This Enforcer must have known a bit about  
security machines. He made sure it would open to a pass-phrase only he  
knew. He was hiding," he decided, his eyes narrowing as he considered  
the options.  
  
"Yeah," Ranma said, "but from what? The mutants? Or something  
else?"  
  
***  
  
Schofield stood in the middle of the Church, looking up at the  
stain-glass roof. This building was unique in the entire shanty  
village, not because of its religious significance, but because it was  
the only building that some had put some effort into making it look  
like it wasn't a pile of scrap.  
  
"Your opinion Commissar?" Schofield asked Commissar Barnes. Barnes  
was the Commissar that had been assigned to the platoon's last  
Lieutenant, and was hated by all the soldiers due to his harsh  
enforcement of Imperial edict. Still, he was a good warrior, with more  
experience then most of the Tokyo Guardsmen (A few officers from the  
TDF _might_ have had more)  
  
"Corporal Hicks theory seems to be the most likely. It appears  
that these 'ghost towns' are nothing more then the result of mutant  
attacks and the stories of nervous guardsmen."  
  
Schofield scowled at that. Barnes had a habit of putting down  
anyone not as devoted to the Emperor as he was. Being a Commissar, he  
looked down on everyone. But still, the opinion had merit. If there  
was one thing true for all soldiers everywhere, it was that they loved  
making up stories, and gossiped like old women.  
  
him up. Glancing down, he saw that one of the tiles on the floor had  
been chipped and come loose. Not recognising the type of stone it was  
made of, he picked it up for a better look. Then he froze. Underneath  
where the tile had been was a large hole.  
  
Kneeling down, he pulled more tiles away, revealing a metal frame  
that had been holding the tiles in place. Calling some of his men  
over, they pulled the frame away. The hole was about five metres deep,  
and a metal ladder was built into the wall for easy access.  
  
"How'd you find this?" Comms-officer Crowley asked.  
  
"Dumb luck," Schofield replied, slinging his bolter over his  
shoulder and climbing down. Two of his men followed him, the other  
three setting up a defensive position on the surface.  
  
As his feet touched the ground, Schofield turned to examine the  
hole. He saw the tunnel instantly, leading north and down, away from  
the village. "Crowley, Barnes, you're with me. The rest of you stay  
here." He tapped his headset. "Squad Leaders, this is Schofield.  
Status report."  
  
"Hicks here. We've almost completed a sweep of the southern side  
of the town. Nothing new to report."  
  
"Saotome here. Trunks and I have finished searching the Town Hall.  
Nothing but that body. I've left three men to guard it."  
  
"Right. I've found a hidden tunnel in the Imperial Church, and  
we're taking a look now. When you've finished your sweeps, return to  
the vehicles."  
  
"Understood."  
  
"Roger."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
Schofield stepped forward into the tunnel, strapping the handlight  
to the side of his bolter.  
  
***  
  
"Man oh man, I do not like this," Trooper Hudson muttered. "Ghost  
towns, a single dead body, now hidden tunnels. Something ain't right  
here!"  
  
"Knock it off Hudson," Hicks growled. "Bartley, anything?"  
  
Trooper Rook Bartley shook her head. "No movement whatsoever." The  
young woman growled as she considered the Auspex motion sensor in her  
hand. "What the hell's going on here?"  
  
"No idea," Hicks replied, pushing a door open with his lasgun.  
Another empty room. The Corporal was really starting to hate this  
town.  
  
Rook swore as her Auspex started beeping. "I've got movement. Two  
hundred metres to the south."  
  
"All squads, this is Hicks. Anyone to the south of town?"  
  
"Saotome here. All my men are in the northern half, except for our  
guards near the vehicles."  
  
"Sergeant Trunks. All of my squad are in the northern half."  
  
"Trooper Otaru. Lieutenant Schofield is investigating the tunnel,  
heading east towards Kell Hive. The rest of the squad is here."  
  
"Then we've got unknown beings south of the village."  
  
"Move to investigate it," Trunks ordered. "I'll send some men to  
assist you."  
  
"Understood. Hicks out." The Corporal turned to his squad. "Let's  
go. Keep it quiet."  
  
***  
  
"Two each?" Ranma said. Trunks nodded, and the guardsman turned to  
his squad. "Shinji, Hiroshi, head over to the tread-heads and assist  
them. They'll probably forget that they're not immune to death."  
  
"Don't all tread-heads?" Hiroshi joked, patting the rocket  
launcher he'd swiped from the town armoury.  
  
"It's not their fault. Being cooped up in all that armour would do  
that to anyone," Shinji replied as they walked off, two Space Marine  
Scouts with them.  
  
Lina blinked. "Did he just make a joke?" she asked.  
  
"I think he did," Tenchi replied. "Good to see he's loosening up a  
little."  
  
***  
  
Schofield ran his hand along the side of the tunnel, his face  
showing an expression of confusion. "This tunnel isn't natural," he  
said. "Almost seems like it was dug by some sort of... animal." He  
didn't mention the number of twists and turns it had, which meant that  
they had no idea where they were in relation to the town. At least it  
hadn't split into several tunnels.  
  
"Perhaps the mutants," Barnes replied. "It is possible that this  
was their method of entry into the village was through the Imperial  
Church."  
  
"Heretics using the Church to attack innocent people," Schofield  
muttered. "Is it just me, or does life seem a constant joke  
sometimes?"  
  
Barnes glared at Comms-officer Crowley, who was doing his best to  
suppress a smirk. Schofield noticed that the Commissar was getting  
annoyed at the Guardsmen. Annoyed Political Officers usually meant  
trouble.  
  
"There." The Lieutenant pointed at a small light in the distance.  
"Looks like the end." And just in time, he thought, as Barnes and  
Crowley turned their attention from each other to the light.  
  
Quickly but quietly, the trio moved to the tunnel exit. Carefully,  
Schofield glanced around the corner... and his jaw dropped in horror.  
"Emperor's Light," he whispered.  
  
***  
  
"Nothing," Hicks muttered, lowering his lasgun in disgust. "Not a  
damn thing." Both he and his squad were standing on the outskirts of  
the town. In front of them was nothing but miles of flat, dead plains.  
Completely flat, with not a single rock or sand dune for anyone to  
hide behind. Of course, if they were hiding, the Auspex wouldn't have  
detected their movement. "Are you sure that thing's working right?" he  
asked Bartley.  
  
"Yes I'm sure!" she growled back. She looked at the screen again.  
"But I am getting some sort of interference. Almost like it was....  
underground."  
  
"Couldn't you have told us that before?" Hudson muttered.  
  
"Look asshole, this thing doesn't have a good range, all right?"  
the young woman growled. "You don't like it, you use the blasted  
thing."  
  
"Calm down, both of you," Hicks ordered. Taking Rook's Auspex, he  
stepped forward, until he was right over the movement. "What the hell  
is this?" he said. The image on the Auspex indicated that there must  
be dozens, possibly hundreds of creatures underneath him. Either that  
or it was _really_ big, neither of which he wanted to consider.  
  
***  
  
Schofield crawled forward, then looked out over the ledge. Barnes  
and Crowley were right alongside him.  
  
They were in some sort of giant underground cavern, lit up by some  
unknown light source. The ledge the trio was on was almost fifty  
metres above the cavern floor. And that floor was currently  
overflowing with some strange creatures.  
  
They appeared to be some sort of deformed humans. Their bodies  
seemed insectoid, with six limbs, two ending in clawed feet, the  
others usually ending in a long sharp claw. Tails of various sizes  
were usually attached. And with blood-red skin, they were a sight that  
would frighten even the most experienced soldier.  
  
"What the frack are those things?" Crowley whispered.  
  
"Beats the hell out of me," Schofield replied, using his gun-scope  
for a closer look. "Some kind of mutant. They must be the ones that  
attacked this town." He noticed that some of the mutants looked more  
human then others. In fact, some of them still had tatters of  
clothing, as if they were slowly losing their humanity.  
  
Behind him, Barnes remained silent.  
  
"There," Crowley whispered. "I think I see their leader."  
  
"How do you know it's the leader?" Schofield muttered, still  
looking over the mutants.  
  
"Because it's standing upright, is twice as large as the rest, and  
actually has a few usable looking hands."  
  
Schofield turned his attention to where the man was pointing, and  
admitted to himself that Crowley was almost certainly right.  
  
The beast stood high on it's hind legs, its tail thumping the  
ground behind him. One of the middle limbs was a long and curved claw,  
the other ended in what looked like some sort of organic gun. The  
upper limbs had hands that, despite the insectoid carapace, still  
looked too human for comfort.  
  
And the face.... Schofield pulled his eyes away. The creature had  
been injured during the battle above, and the entire left side of it's  
head was badly damaged from a plasma weapon of some sort. The right  
side had skin the same carapace as the others, but the facial features  
were slowly being twisted from human to... whatever it was.  
  
"Commissar, analysis?" Schofield said quietly.  
  
"These creatures undoubtedly attacked the town," Barnes said. "It  
appears that they are all one type of mutant, which would indicate  
that they have been breeding for several generations."  
  
Schofield looked at the Commissar. The entire analysis had been  
delivered in the tone Ranma Saotome once described as 'politics-grade  
bullshit,' something that Commissars were experts at. Barnes knew  
something, and he wasn't telling.  
  
The Lieutenant didn't feel like starting an argument now,  
considering the number of violent monsters below. So he turned his  
attention back to the creature.  
  
The mutant was saying something in what seemed to be the planets  
native language. Schofield only knew a few words of this language, as  
did the other two. Which meant that they had no idea what was being  
said, except for a few words. The only words Schofield recognised were  
something involving food, and Lord/Master/Emperor (The last word  
varied in meaning depending on context and the rest of the sentence.)  
Considering that this world had broken away from the  
Imperium, he doubted it was the Emperor. So who was this master?  
  
After a few minutes of this, Schofield scratched at his lip,  
trying to deal with an itch. When he looked at his hand, it had a thin  
smear of red on it. Instantly, he rubbed at his nostrils. A blood  
nose.  
  
A quick glace at the other two soldiers increased his fears. Both  
of them also had blood noses. A simple annoyance like this that also  
served as a beacon for when one was in the presence of a psyker.  
  
Psyker. Sorcerer. Witch. Telepath. Call them what you want, they  
were still the same - beings gifted and cursed with the ability to  
manipulate the arcane energies of the Warp, that other reality that  
was home to the Chaos Gods. The Warp, and the Psykers, were the only  
thing capable of faster-then-light travel, and thus they were what  
held the Imperium together.  
  
But at the same time, the Warp posed a greater threat to mankind  
then any alien race or rebels. For with this connection between the  
Warp and Mankind, the Chaos Gods could corrupt from within, twisting  
and changing a person's minds.  
  
And now, there was a psyker directly below him. Tapping his blood  
nose, he watched as the other two realised the problem just as he had.  
He turned his attention to the area below.  
  
The mutant leader had all four of his 'arms' raised up now, and   
blue crackles of lightning ran along it's bizarre skin. Schofield   
forced back the urge to vomit. Like any loyal servant of the Emperor,   
hated and distrusted the power of the Warp. Although there were those   
who used that power for the Imperium, that did not dull the hatred in   
any way.  
  
***  
  
"Company," Rook said as two guardsmen and two Space Marines came  
up behind them. The Corporal ignored this, his attention on the  
movement below.  
  
"What the hell?" Hicks growled. The Auspex in his hand was going  
crazy, as some sort of new interference scrambled the sensors. "What's  
going on down there?"  
  
***  
  
Lightning began to reach away from the creature, earthing itself  
in the cave floor and walls. One bolt struck another creature, but it  
didn't seem to feel the pain. Instead, it closed it's eyes and seemed  
to enjoy the feeling. Schofield shuddered at the thought of something,  
even this depraved beast, enjoying the touch of the Warp.  
  
Suddenly, the leader roared, swinging a claw towards the platform  
and tunnel entrance where the soldiers were hiding. Many of the other  
creatures also turned to face it. Schofield felt his heart jump into  
his throat. The psyker sensed us, and now they all know!  
  
The mutants charged towards the platform, their claws rending the  
stone in an attempt to secure a handhold. All three of them leaned  
over the edge and opened fire, Schofield with his bolter, Barnes with  
his bolt pistol, and Crowley with the squads grenade launcher. The  
first wave of creatures were forced back, leaving a few dead. However,  
more of them were climbing other walls, coming on from the sides and  
above.  
  
"Back into the tunnel!" Schofield yelled. Barnes glared at him,  
and was about to shoot the Lieutenant (Standard practise of Commissars  
killing what they believe to be deserters. They were often wrong) when  
Schofield pushed him into the tunnel. "We'll do the Emperor no good if  
we die here!"  
  
He glanced over the edge of the platform again, and saw the mutant  
leader aiming the organic gun arm. Muttering a Imperial prayer under  
his breath, he fired off a burst at the creature, the weapon sounding  
surprisingly quiet against the backdrop of mutant roars that echoed  
around the cave.  
  
The burst hit the creature around the head and chest area, the  
explosive-tipped bullets detonating with surprising force. They failed  
to penetrate the mutants skin, but it knocked it off balance, swinging  
the gun arm away from the tunnel. Without warning, a wave of blue-  
black energy launched itself out of the gun arm and towards the roof.  
  
"I hate psykers," Schofield muttered just before the energy  
exploded, sending a shockwave out in all directions. He was knocked  
back by the blast, slamming into the cave wall hard. Most of the  
creatures were scattered across the cave, their attack on the three  
guardsmen stopped for the moment.  
  
Climbing to his feet, Schofield saw light shining through a  
massive hole in the roof created by the explosion. As the creature  
below began to climb to their feet, he saw a volley of las-blasts  
reach down from the hole, tearing a gash in the crowd.  
  
"Who's that firing?" Schofield demanded into his headset.  
  
"Hicks here Sir. Lieutenant, where are you?" The Corporal followed  
the question by dropping a few frag grenades down into the cave.  
  
"See the tunnel and little platform dug into one of the walls?"  
Schofield asked.  
  
"Yeah, I see you sir," Hick said. "You've got a group of those  
things climbing up towards you. We've got rockets, head into the  
tunnel and we'll bring it down behind you."  
  
Schofield said, already backing towards the tunnel. "There are some  
heading along the roof towards you. Good luck Corporal." He fired off  
one more burst, the explosive tipped rounds reducing two mutants to  
piles of flesh, before turning and running into the tunnel.  
  
Hicks glanced at the trooper with the rocket launcher. "You, see  
that tunnel there?" He pointed at the tunnel. Hiroshi nodded. "Take it  
down!"  
  
Hiroshi lifted up the launcher, resting it against his shoulder.  
Hicks grabbed Hudson, who was standing behind the rocket launcher,  
just before Hiroshi fired. Hudson's helmet was sent flying, and the  
rocket raced down into the cave, impacting against the rocks above the  
tunnel. The resulting explosion shredded three mutants that were too  
close to the tunnel, as the falling rubble blocked off the entrance.  
"And people wonder why I enjoy this job," he muttered.  
  
"Move back!" Hicks yelled, following his own orders and stepping  
away from the hole in the ground. They were just in time as the  
creatures clambered over the edge and attacked.  
  
***  
  
"Damn it!" Ranma yelled as he ran towards the southern end of  
town. "Tai, Daisuke, start your cycles up and head for the battle," he  
growled into his headset.  
  
"What about the other bikes?" Tai asked.  
  
"They'll be fine. Tell those tank drivers to move as well," Ranma  
ordered, jumping over a fence. Ahead, he saw the Space Marine Scouts  
run around a corner and out of sight.  
  
Just a foot behind Saotome, Lina slammed a clip into place on her  
bolter. "Guess we were lucky enough to find the only ghost town not  
dead yet," she muttered.  
  
"Yeah, lucky. Tenchi, I want a full plasma spread. Lina, keep your  
flamer ready for my order."  
  
***  
  
Hiroshi stumbled back as a massive claw sliced his rocket launcher  
in two. Fumbling at the laspistol on his belt, the guardsman watched  
with detached horror as the mutant crouched down, then leapt forward,  
claws aimed at his chest.  
  
A bolt of red energy took the monster in the side, knocking it off  
course. Hiroshi yelped in pain as the claw carved a gash along his  
right arm. Finally gaining a good grip on his pistol, he turned and  
put several shots through the mutants head at point-blank range.  
"Thanks Shinji," he muttered, even though he knew the sniper wouldn't  
hear him over all the mayhem.  
  
In fact Shinji Ikari did hear him through his headset, but he was  
too focused on his task at hand. Quickly and cleanly, he fired a  
single shot at a creature before moving onto the next one. Most hit by  
him died due to the location or severity of the wound, and those that  
survived the shot from his powerful sniper rifle were easy pickings  
for the weaker las-guns carried by the other troops.  
  
The flow of creatures from the hole was increasing as more of them  
turned their attention away from the collapsed tunnel Schofield left  
down, to the guardsmen attacking them from above.  
  
"Hudson, frags!" Hicks yelled, throwing the last of his grenades  
into the hole. Hudson followed suit, and soon they heard the familiar  
detonation and screams of pain. The Corporal dropped back to reload  
his las-gun, giving him a chance to assess the situation.  
  
Most of the creatures were being killed as they climbed out of the  
hole, but several had managed to get close, although no one was dead  
yet. That was sure to come soon enough. The only time the beasts stood  
still long enough for a clean shot, but the dead ones made reasonably  
good cover, giving the creatures time to prepare themselves. "Move  
back!" he ordered, firing off a volley of las-blasts. The soldiers   
fell back, creating more room between them and the creatures.  
  
Suddenly, one of them leapt forward, it's claw bursting through  
Hudson's leg. The trooper screamed in agony, falling to the ground.  
Ripping it's claw out of the humans leg, the creature prepared to  
deliver the final blow, only to receive an armoured boot to the face.  
  
One of the Space Marine Scouts had attacked the beast, first  
knocking it away from the fallen soldier, then following up with a  
punch that cracked open the insect-like skin around its jaw. The  
creature growled in some form of rage, swinging two claws at the  
Marine. The genetically-enhanced warrior caught one claw, while the  
other bit into his shoulderplate. Before any watching could blink, the  
Marine raised his bolt pistol and blew the creatures head away.  
  
Hudson was dragged away from the action while the others laid down  
covering fire. From the west, two Chimera APC's and two Blazer  
hovercycles made their way towards the battle. At the same time, three  
more Space Marines emerged from the town, with several Guardsmen close  
behind.  
  
Trunks roared in anger as he saw the creatures, and his power  
sword seemed to come alive, energy running along the blade. He charged  
past the guardsmen, taking off the head of the first beast he saw. The  
next fell to a quick blast from his Plasma pistol, before the next  
managed to slash at his leg, leaving a long gash. Trunks grabbed him,  
crushed his neck and tossed him aside. Ranma blasted the still-choking  
creature with his bolter.  
  
Ranma assesed the situation. Trunks seemed to have gone into a  
blood-lust of some sort, judging from the way he was tearing through  
the creatures. Is it their Chapter's style of fighting? No, the  
others still seem to be sane. He recognised Trunks' fighting style as  
a modified form of kempo, although it incorporated all sorts of other  
fighting styles as well.  
  
The various Guardsmen were still moving away from the hole slowly,  
their weapons spraying out death to anything that approached. Several  
of them were down, some with serious injuries.  
  
After several more minutes of constant firing, the number of  
mutants attacking them died down, and then stopped. Trunks walked  
towards the hole, his armour badly damaged, and blood from both the  
creatures and himself coating his body. He glanced over the edge and  
started swearing and a number of obscure dialects.  
  
"What's wrong?" Ranma asked.  
  
"There was another tunnel," Trunks growled. "This was just a  
diversion while the majority of them escaped."  
  
Ranma looked at the pile of bodies. "Some diversion."  
  
Schofield's squad emerged from the town, weapons ready. They  
lowered them when they saw the results. "Looks like you got all these  
mutants already," the Lieutenant said.  
  
"They were sub-human," Barnes said. "They lacked the fighting  
spirit and intelligence of a true soldier of the Emperor."  
  
Schofield ignored him. "I'm certain that High Command will want to  
know about this. Crowley, get me a channel to General Tendo."  
  
Meanwhile, Ranma helped Hiroshi to his feet. "You alright?"  
  
"Been better sir," the trooper replied. "My own fault for getting  
too close." He gritted his teeth while Lina saw to his injuries.  
"Could you be a little less painful?" he muttered.  
  
"Look, I'm no medic. Ketchum always dealt with that. You'll just  
have to wait until he gets back." With one last adjusted, the bandage  
was in place. "There. That'll do for now." She looked over at the  
bodies. "What are those things?"  
  
"I don't know," Ranma replied, "but Trunks knows. He really went  
crazy."  
  
"Yeah, I saw." Lina looked to where the Space Marine had taken  
care of his own wounds, although they already appeared to be healing,  
thanks to the wonders of gene-engineering.  
  
"People, listen up," Schofield called out. "I've just spoken with  
the General. Our orders are to hold this town until the main advance  
reaches us here tomorrow morning. We have reinforcements on the way  
from Seventh Company, they'll be here in four hours at the most. In  
the meantime, we set up a defensive position to take on anything that  
comes if possible." The Lieutenant turned to Trunks. "Sergeant, while  
I thank you for the respect you have given me by commanding you, but I  
have no doubt that your experience exceeds mine by no small margin. I  
humbly request that you take command."  
  
Trunks rose to his feet. "It takes a brave man to admit his  
shortcomings Lieutenant. I accept your offer." He looked around.  
"Corporal Hicks, can the injured be moved?"  
  
"We can move them a short distance. Some of them aren't in a good condition."  
  
"We'll head for the town hall. Trooper Ikari, when we get there, I  
want you to go to the spire on the roof for sniper and sentry duty."  
Shinji nodded and saluted. "Squad leaders will gather in the mayor's  
office."  
  
***  
  
The mayor's office was, like the rest of the town, in rather poor  
condition. However, it did have a very good map on the wall, which  
Trunks pulled down and spread out over the table, marking in the  
current military situation.  
  
"The tanks and cycles are hidden here," Ranma said, pointing to a  
garage. "We should be able to deploy quickly from there. I've also  
sent several of my squad to take the heavy weapons from the storeroom  
below and bring them up here. From there we can determine where to  
deploy them."  
  
"I've got two men rigging explosive charges in that tunnel," Hicks  
reported, "and the other three still on their feet searching for more.  
They've been equipped with our Auspex, along with one from Lieutenant  
Schofields squad. The injured are safely set up in this buildings  
infirmary. One of them isn't expected to make it," he added, his face  
dark with anger. That man was one of his.  
  
"Our reinforcements are making good time," Schofield said,  
changing the subject and pulling Hicks away from problems he couldn't  
solve. "Last communication indicates they'll arrive in just over three  
hours from now."  
  
Trunks nodded. "We'll decide where they go when they arrive."  
Crowley knocked on the door. "Come in." The comms-officer entered,  
saluted and handed the Space Marine several printout from the comm-  
set. Trunks read over the information and nodded. "That will be all."  
As Crowley left, Trunks turned back to the squad leaders. "We've got a  
problem."  
  
Grabbing a pen, he drew a line on the map. "The Kell smog line.  
I'm sure you all know what that is."  
  
"Imperial forces in orbit can't see behind that line because of  
pollution levels from Kell Hive," Ranma said.  
  
Trunks nodded. "What you may not know is that the rebels have set  
up an extensive anti-air defence behind that line. It was believed  
that it was to stop bomber attacks on the Hive, but it's also  
prevented air recon missions as well, which made us blind in that  
region." He dropped one of the printouts on the table. "Orbital forces  
recorded these images just beyond the smog line less then an hour  
ago."  
  
It was a chilling image. Tens of thousands of dots that had to be  
infantry, along with hundreds of tanks, Wasp helicopters and K-Suits.  
  
"What we thought was a retreat was actually the rebels regrouping  
out of sight," Schofield muttered.  
  
"And those rebel forces we've been taking out were recon  
elements," Ranma finished. The room fell silent as they considered how  
everyone had been fooled.  
  
"How long until they get here?" Hicks asked.  
  
"Twelve hours, maybe less. It depends on if they're going to  
counterattack or dig trenches and wait for us to go to them," Trunks  
said.  
  
"Judging how far ahead the recon elements have been moving, I  
doubt they're going to dig in," Schofield said.  
  
How long until the main Imperial force reaches us?" Ranma asked.  
  
"At least fourteen hours," Trunks answered. "Current estimate is  
somewhere around sunrise."  
  
Ranma cursed. "So, what do we do now?"  
  
"We have to try and hold this town," Trunks said. "High Command  
has to know what happened here. I'll call up my commanding officer.  
Maybe we can get some reinforcements here. Space Marines. I'd like to  
see these rebels take on the Eternal Dragons."  
  
Ranma nodded, but his mind was working overtime. Back on Tokyo,  
he'd never used his mind much, thanks to his old mans influence, but  
the responsibilities of command seemed to be a good thing for him.  
  
High Command knows that mutants are behind this now, so why is it  
so important to hold the town? What has Trunks so determined to do  
this, not to mention the rage he was in earlier. What's responsible  
for that?  
  
And then there was Barnes. Schofield had mentioned to him earlier  
that the Commissar was hiding something, but what was it? Did it have  
something to do with Trunks? Or was it something else?  
  
Ranma decided that the only way to learn the answer was to wait  
and see. But would he learn the truth in time, before they all died  
for something that didn't appear to be of any importance in this  
damned war?  
  
***  
  
End Part 3  
  
And ohhh boy, is Part 4 gonna be a blast!  
  
***  
  
Authors Notes:  
  
Well, that's another part done. Don't even begin to think I'm  
close to finishing with this one, because I'm only just warming up!  
Heh heh heh...  
  
There are some important things I have to note. Firstly, Trunks.  
There will NOT be any Super Sayians here. While the blond warriors are  
good for a laugh, the sheer power they have would be out of place in  
the universe I'm working with.  
  
Secondly, I've got a list of the various characters here, for  
those who can't place where they come from.  
  
Ranma Saotome, Soun Tendo, Hiroshi, Daisuke: Ranma 1/2  
Tenchi Masaki, Washuu Habuki: Tenchi Muyo!  
Lina Inverse, Rezo, Zolf, Dilgear: Slayers  
Ash Ketchum: Pokemon  
Schofield: Ice Station (Good novel)  
Misato Katsuragi, Kaji Ryouji: NGE  
Trunks: Dragonball Z  
Rook: Robotech  
Hicks, Hudson: Aliens  
Konoko: Oni (The video game. No anime yet)  
Tai: Digimon  
Ryo Saeba: City Hunter  
  
I've missed a few that only got mentioned, but they'll be included  
in a list I plan to put up on my website. Please note that some of  
these characters are new.  
  
In the next part of Soldiers of the Imperium, the Tokyo First and  
the Eternal Dragons prepare to defend the ghost town. But what secrets  
does the Commissar hold, not to mention the Space Marine Trunks? And  
what of the mutants? Why are they suddenly attacking so many towns in  
such a short time. All this in part 4, plus the biggest action scene  
yet!  
  
Matrix Dragon  
"Push the button Frank."  



	4. Part Four

Matrix Dragon Presents....  
  
Soldiers of the Imperium  
Part Four  
  
Copyrights: (Author takes one look at the story.) FORGET IT! I'm not disclaiming all those series, games and books. Do it yourself! Jeez, do I have to do everything... (Stomps off to somewhere where he can get back to work on his other fics.)  
  
Previously: Several squads from the Tokyo First's recon platoon located a ghost town and began a sweep of the town for any evidence of what happened, assisted by a recon unit from the Seventh Company and a squad of Space Marine Scouts from the Eternal Dragons Chapter. Lieutenant Schofield located a hidden cave, filled with hundreds of mutants responsible for the disappearance of the townspeople.  
  
The resulting battle blew a hole in the cave roof, allowing the small number of guardsmen in the cave to escape and the rest of the Imperial forces to attack from above. In the conflict, part of the mutant force escaped by using another hidden tunnel.  
  
Now, they have orders to hold the town until the main Imperial advance arrives in almost fourteen hours. There are a small number of reinforcements moving towards them quickly, expected to arrive in three hours, but there is also a very big problem. What was believed to be a rebel retreat was actually a regroup, and now tens of thousands of rebels are moving towards the Imperial Guard Regiments advancing on Kell Hive. And a small force of less then thirty men, some injured, and two tanks are stuck in front of them.  
  
***  
  
The lobby of the Town Hall was useful for about only one thing. The Imperials could spread the weapons looted from the town's armoury over it, allowing them to see what they had for supplies. "Four Heavy Bolters," Ranma said, tapping one of the bulky weapons with his foot, "with about five thousand rounds for each. Six Rocket Launchers, mostly frag missiles, but a few of some other types, including Krak, Smoke and Incendiary. About twenty frags for each Launcher, and maybe ten all up of each other type."  
  
Trunks nodded. "What about anti-Tank weapons? Considering the number of vehicles the rebels have, we'll need something to stop them."  
  
"Oh ye of little faith," Ranma said, pointing his thumb at three bulky weapons over in a corner. "Lascannons. They're old, but they'll take on tanks pretty well. We've also got a Heavy Plasma Gun." He lifted up the bulky plasma weapon with a grunt. "Thank the Emperor this thing has a tripod, or none of us would be able to use it. If it's this hard just to lift it, imagine what firing it would be like."  
  
"I can guess," Trunks replied. "I have some experience with newer models."  
  
"Anyway, along with two Autocannons with about four thousand rounds each, and an old Heavy Stubber with maybe six thousand rounds, that's all of our heavy weaponry," Ranma said. "We've passed out boltguns to everyone, seeing how they improve over lasguns in every way possible. All we can do now is figure out who to give these to, and where to put them."  
  
"We've got time to do that after our reinforcements arrive. For now, we have to make sure that there are no other tunnels for the mutants to use."  
  
Ranma nodded, but he managed to spot the element of hatred in the Space Marines voice. A few months ago he would have missed it, but he was improving, thanks to his experience as a squad leader. Something's being hidden from me, he thought, anger flowing through him for a brief moment. After all the secrets his father had kept from him, Ranma had no desire for the same thing to happen again.  
  
***  
  
Rook Bartley climbed up the ladder, then glanced up at the Imperial Church around her. "Will this still be standing?" she asked.  
  
"Probably not," Hicks replied sadly. "They sure put a lot of work into it, it's a shame to have it destroyed." He picked up the detonator, along with a small statue as big as his hand. "At least a part of it will survive," he commented, walking towards the massive door. The rest of the squad jogged along behind him.  
  
Once outside, Hicks turned around and looked at the church. He had a love for history, and had checked some of the items inside, finding that many of them were several thousand years old. He didn't want to do this, but he really had no choice. Removing the safety cover from the detonator, he slammed his thumb down on the trigger.  
  
With a shockwave that the soldiers felt through their feet, the first explosive charges destroyed a section of the tunnel walls, causing a series of cave-ins that caused one of the poorly built buildings to collapse. This was followed by more explosions destroying the tunnel and creating a trench through the middle of town.  
  
At the end, a large cloud of dust, smoke and flames blew open the doors of the church. Hicks watched as the old hinges on the door broke and it fell to the ground with a clang. When the smoke cleared however, the building was still standing.   
  
"I'll be damned," the Corporal muttered, walking up to the building and looking inside. Although there were a lot of scorch marks, it seemed as though the building was intact and going to stay that way. Smiling to himself, he activated his comm-link to report in.  
  
***  
  
Sixty kilometres from the village, almost a dozen vehicles were making their way towards the small town, with orders to reinforce the small group of soldiers already there. The current ETA was just over one hour.  
  
Ash Ketchum made his way towards the front of the detachment, his hovercycles engines emitting a light blue glow. One of the two bikes Washuu had been playing with over the past few days, this one was faster and more agile then the rest of the squadron, at the cost of weaker armour and in need of a better gyroscope for balance.   
  
The guardsman glanced to his right, and spotted Washuu's other modified hovercycle, this one ridden by the squad's newest member. Commissar Konoko didn't really look like your average Commissar. All of the Political Officers that Ash had come across always wore their trademark black greatcoats and cap, and had no personality to speak of. Not to mention their habit of killing anyone they believed to be traitors or cowards.  
  
Konoko had traded in her greatcoat for a simple jacket, and her cap was stored in one of her bikes saddlebags, one of Washuu's custom helmets on her head. She seemed rather friendly and likeable, although Ash didn't doubt for a second that she wouldn't hesitate to kill a traitor or deserter. After all, that's what Commissars were for.  
  
Glancing ahead, Ash cursed and swung his bike around a large rock sticking out of the ground. After a few seconds of effort, he managed to keep control of the vehicle. Breathing a sigh of relief, he noticed Konoko coming up alongside him.  
  
"Try to get into the habit of anticipating what's up ahead," she yelled over the wind. "Otherwise, noticing a rock at the last minute can easily become too late."  
  
"Thanks for the advice," Ash replied.  
  
"Besides, you trash that bike and you'll answer to me," Washuu Habuki growled over the comm-link, having listened in on their conversation.  
  
Konoko smirked while Ash rolled his eyes in frustration. "I still can't believe you came along," he muttered.  
  
"The report that Lieutenant Schofield made to the General mentioned that there were still files located in the Enforcers data-systems," the tech-priestess explained. "I should be able to crack the Ice on those systems easily. Besides, the General asked me if I wanted to investigate. How could I refuse?"  
  
"Never mind," Ash said, ending the transmission. He twisted the throttle and raced ahead of the rest of the Guard detachment. Konoko tried to keep up, but Washuu had designed this bike as more of a heavy weapons platform. The tech-priestess had added extra armour, replaced the Lasguns with Boltguns and planned to attach a sidecar (with it's own anti-grav systems for extra stability) with a more powerful weapon like an Autocannon or rocket launcher. This meant a lower top speed, so Konoko had to hang slightly behind as Ash scouted ahead over a crest of sand dunes.  
  
***  
  
Lina Inverse was in a cafe located on the main street of the small village, field-stripping her new Bolter. During the gunfight with the mutants several hours before, she had noticed several problems in the weapon. She may not be someone trained in the ancient secrets of technology, but she knew how to maintain a weapon at least. It seemed that the villagers didn't."Incompetent idiots deserved to get killed," she muttered, cleaning out the Bolters barrel. No wonder it wasn't firing properly, the barrel's filled with grime!  
  
"Whoever maintained that gun needs a good kicking," a voice said. Lina squawked in surprise and turned to see one of the Space Marine Scouts standing there.  
  
"You've got that right," the red-head replied, tossing him the barrel. "Take a look at that."  
  
The Marine caught the rod and glanced down it. "Yep, a good kicking is in order," he muttered. "The inside looks like it might have some rust in it. It might not be safe to use that Bolter."  
  
"I'll loot the stuff we found in the town armoury later," Lina said. "If I'm lucky, I should be able to find a decent Boltgun barrel there. Otherwise I'll stick with my lasgun for now." The Scout removed his backpack, opened it up and rummaged in it for a moment, before pulling out something wrapped in cloth. Removing the cloth, he handed a Boltgun barrel to the surprised soldier. "Thank you, but why?"  
  
The Marine grinned. "Boltguns are better then lasguns any day. Trust me when I tell you that you'll need all the firepower you can get your hands on."  
  
Lina grinned right back at him. "Believe me, I know that feeling all too well. Oh, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Lina Inverse," she declared, offering the Marine a hand.  
  
Taking the offered hand, the Scout shook it. "Brendan Lawson. Just call me Ringo." Walking over to the cooler, he pulled out two cans of drink, opened one and tossed the other to Lina. "You don't mind if I clean my gun as well?" he asked.  
  
"Nah, go for it," Lina replied, taking a sip of her drink as she checked the ammo feed.  
  
***  
  
Ranma double-checked the explosives, before walking back to his hovercycle. Starting the engine, he raced back towards the village. Along with several other Guardsmen, he had been setting traps to the east, in order to slow down the rebels when they approached. So far, there were almost a dozen bombs hidden out in the desert, along with a few other surprises. The village may not have looked after their guns, but they had an impressive supply of explosives.  
  
Bringing his cycle to a stop in front of the town hall, he looked up at the clock tower on the top of it. He could just see the thin metal rod that was the barrel of Shinji's M-95 Sniper Rifle. The young man had the best viewpoint in the entire village, and would spot the approaching rebels long before anyone was in firing range.  
  
The gun barrel moved as Shinji took a careful look at the horizon around the village. Suddenly, the barrel paused in it's movement, and Shinji spoke over a comm-link to all the squad leaders. "Squad Leaders, this is Trooper Ikari. I have movement to the west. I count twelve vehicles, eight Chimeras, two Leman Russ's and two Sentinel Walkers. Markings match Tokyo First Seventh Company."  
  
"Ikari, this is Sergeant Trunks. Continue your sweep. Squad Leaders, meet me in the mayor's office."  
  
"Saotome here, I'm on my way." The young soldier jogged through town hall, reaching the office just as Hicks got there. Schofield arrived a moment later.  
  
"Comms-officer Crowley contacted the units moving towards us and confirmed that they're from the Tokyo First," Trunks said. "With the additional firepower they provide us, we stand a chance at defending this town. Also, I've been in contact with my own commanding officer and informed him of the situation. Several squads of Space Marines will arrive here in two hours. At that point, I'll be passing command to one of my superiors, who will decide on our next course of action. I need a full report to pass on. Schofield?"  
  
"Boltguns have been given to all the Guardsmen currently here," the Lieutenant reported. "Also, three of the Heavy Bolters and two of the Rocket Launchers have been set up on the eastern side of town, just in case scout units reach us. A good portion of the Guardsmen are fieldstripping their bolters and cleaning them. Apparently, the villager in charge of looking after the guns didn't do a very good job."  
  
Trunks nodded, entering the information into a data-slate. "Corporal Hicks?"  
  
"My squads Chimera transport has been moved to this vehicle garage," Hicks said, tapping one of the buildings on the map, "and is ready to move out into combat situations if needed. Five of my men are still in the medbay, and it's unlikely that they'll be getting out soon. My squad really isn't ready for combat."  
  
"Most likely, you'll be stationed behind the front lines, equipped with long-range weapons. Either that, or you'll be in your Chimera, using the hull-mounted lasguns." Hicks nodded while the Scout turned to the last squad leader. "Scout-Sergeant Saotome?"  
  
"Ten explosives have been taken from the town supply and set up east of town. Most of them won't do much damage to tanks, but they'll give infantry some headaches. I'd like to set up some explosives in the building on the edge of town, in case we have to fall back. We could use something to drop on them."  
  
"I'll think about it," Trunks replied. "But for now, all we can do is wait."  
  
***  
  
The Imperial Guard units arrived in the village twenty minutes later. There were two extra vehicles that Shinji had not spotted at first. Two Blazer hovercycles, both the one Ash was using (and Washuu had modified while no one was looking) and a new one that the tech-priestess had built. So who was the person riding the extra bike?  
  
"If Washuu decided to ride that thing out here, I swear I'm gonna break her neck," Ranma growled, knowing that she would be crazy enough to do just that.  
  
"That's if I don't get her first," Tenchi replied. Both of them pulled up short as they saw the figure dismounting the second bike. "Who's that?" Tenchi asked.  
  
"No idea. Does Washuu ever wear outfits like that?" Ranma said, referring to the skin-tight black bodysuit the woman was wearing.  
  
"I don't even want to consider that," Tenchi replied, considering what kind of mood Washuu would be in if she wore something like that. He wasn't sure if he could handle that many hormones.  
  
The woman noticed them, and walked towards them. "I'm looking for Scout-Sergeant Saotome," she said.  
  
"You've found him," Ranma replied. "I'm Saotome. You are?"  
  
The woman saluted crisply. "Commissar Konoko. I've been assigned to your squad." She took a document from her jacket pocket and handed it to him.  
  
Ranma studied the document. "Looks right. Lieutenant Schofield expected you to arrive in about three more weeks with the replacement troops then."  
  
"We were able to depart Tokyo sooner then expected, and the Warp was peaceful enough for us to make the trip here in a far shorter time then expected."  
  
Ranma studied the woman. Right now, she certainly didn't seem like what one would expect from a Commissar. The tight clothes and spikey purple hair made the small woman look rather feminine and sexy, not the hard lines of the other Commissars greatcoats and peaked caps.  
  
But to the eyes of an experienced martial artist like Ranma, the real proof was in her stance. Like all great fighters, Konoko seemed to always be ready for a fight. Not a single part of her clothing was designed to get in the way of her limbs, her weapons were near her hands at all times, and there was a hardness in her eyes that gave Ranma the chills, even though he'd had that look several times himself. Of course, he'd only had it in the middle of a fight, while this woman seemed to be able to call it up at will.  
  
"Everything appears to be in order," he said, "but I want to ask you a few questions before I accept you into my squad. Have you ever served with a recon squad before?"  
  
Konoko shook her head. "I've mostly served with front-line units."  
  
"In that case, there are a few things I need to make clear. We are not a stand-and-fight unit. We do not have the firepower or armour for that kind of fight. Our tactics are hit and run, chipping away at the enemy. If we need bigger firepower, we drop back and call the Seventh Company for an artillery strike. There will be times when I will give the order to fall back. Now, the question is, will you pull a gun on me when that happens?"  
  
Konoko smiled, the smile actually reaching her green eyes. "I'm not one of those Commissars with a flawed mind. I understand the need to fall back at times." Her eyes turned to ice again. "Of course, if any of your men try and betray the Guard-"  
  
"-the only difference in the result is which of us gets our guns out first," Ranma finished. "Either way they're dead. Welcome aboard. How do you want us to refer to you?"  
  
"Konoko will be fine," she replied.  
  
"Hi guys!" Washuu yelled, walking over to them, a backpack full of equipment slung over her shoulder. "How's things?"  
  
"How the hell did you get here?" Ranma growled.  
  
"I caught a lift with one of the Chimeras. The General sent me out to mug those Enforcer codifiers, see what I can find." She smiled cutely as Tenchi glared at her.  
  
"This is no place for a non-combatant," he growled. "In case you didn't realise Washuu, there's a whole army heading towards us!"  
  
"I know," the Tech-priestess replied. "My plan is to loot the codifiers, find out what happened here, then get the hell out of the way."  
  
Tenchi would have argued more, but Ranma stopped him. "She's thought this one out Tenchi," the Sergeant said. "I don't like her being here either, but it's too late now. Let her do her job while we do ours."  
  
Washuu gave a 'V for victory' sign, asked for directions to the Enforcer headquarters, then wandered off.  
  
"She's going to get herself killed one of these days," Ranma muttered once the woman was out of earshot.  
  
"Probably not," Tenchi said. "She's good at throwing herself in mortal danger, then coming out without a scratch. Annoys everyone like you wouldn't believe."  
  
"I can imagine," Konoko commented. She looked over to where two Chimera APC's unloaded their troops and equipment. "Do you think we can hold this place?"  
  
"We should only need to hold out for two hours if we're lucky," Ranma replied, noticing Lieutenant Ryouji exiting one of the APC's.  
  
***  
  
Under the command of Trunks and Lieutenant Ryouji, a long-time armour commander in the TDF, the vehicles of the Seventh Company were deployed along the eastern side of the town. There simply was no way to hide the vehicles, meaning the time for stealth had passed. Before, they were remaining hidden in the case of rebel recon units drawing large numbers of rebels towards them. Now, if a threat came, they would have to fight it or run. And Trunks had told them that the order to hold the town came from Lord Commander Hayes himself, who couldn't understand the value of retreating if needed. Which meant they would fight or die. Maybe both.  
  
Ranma watched as the two Leman Russ tanks moved to opposite ends of the line, ready to use their battle cannons in whatever direction they were needed. All ten of the Chimera APC's were stationed in the middle, ready to fight if need be, and capable of charging into assault with a squad of Guardsmen aboard.  
  
Glancing to his right, he saw the Sentinel walkers crouched down behind a building, their pilots running a check on their internal systems. Knowing that there really wasn't much for him to do here, he walked back into the town, heading for the town hall.  
  
Ranma found Trunks, Barnes and Hicks looking over the map again, using more pins to mark confirmed Guard and Rebel movements. "Air strikes have slowed them down slightly," Trunks said when he spotted the martial artist. "Now they're expected to arrive about an hour-forty-five to two hours before the Guard reaches us."  
  
"Lieutenant Ryouji's setting up the armour well. We should have decent coverage soon," Ranma replied. Trunks nodded, then looked thoughtful for a moment.  
  
"I want you to get Lieutenant Schofield and Ryouji up here," he said after a minute, "as well as Commissar Konoko and Trooper Inverse."  
  
"I'll get the ladies," Ranma said, tapping his headset. "Lina, Konoko, where are you two?"  
  
"Lina here boss," the red-heads voice replied. "I'm in the town hall lobby, checking these damn weapons work right."  
  
"This is Konoko. I'm in the Enforcer building with Tech-priestess Habuki."  
  
"Get to the mayor's office as soon as possible," Ranma ordered.  
  
"On my way," Konoko responded.  
  
"I'll just make sure none of these parts are going anywhere and I'll be right up."  
  
Lina arrived first, her hands and arms covered in grease. "What's up?" she asked her commander. Ranma simply shrugged and pointed at Trunks. Lina nodded, grabbed a chair and sat down to wait.   
  
"You should show more respect to your commanding officer," Barnes muttered.  
  
"Barnes, zip it," Ranma growled. "I don't mind the way my men act around me. In fact, I prefer it. It means they trust me, which is something I doubt anyone could ever to with you." Nearby, Trunks simply smirked, while Hicks hid a shit-eating grin behind a book he'd found.  
  
The Commissars face turned red with rage. "I could have you face a court-martial for such talk!"  
  
"But you won't Barnes, because you know it's true," Ranma replied. "Besides, despite all your flaws, you're an extremely loyal servant to the Emperor. You wouldn't waste Imperial resources like that."  
  
"Besides, everyone talks about Commissars like that," Trunks added. Barnes couldn't even really glare at the Space Marine, as he had no authority over the Adeptus Astartes.  
  
The two Lieutenants entered the room, followed by Konoko a few seconds later. She looked at the fuming Commissar. "What's with him?" she asked.  
  
"Public Relations problems," Hicks answered with a straight face, drawing a grin from several people present in the room.  
  
"Good, everyone I wanted to talk to is here," Trunks said. "Trooper Inverse, I was told that you were a demon-hunter back on Tokyo?"  
  
The temperature seemed to drop as Trunks' question sank in. Surprised, Lina nodded. The Space Marine handed her a piece of paper. Lina looked at it for a second before swearing and crushing the note in an angry grip. "Where'd you find this?" she demanded.  
  
"In the cave where Lieutenant Schofield encountered those creatures," Trunks replied. "You understand what we are dealing with here?"  
  
"Yeah, I understand," Lina replied.  
  
"I'm glad you do, now how about telling the rest of us?" Ranma asked. Lina nodded, then smoothed out the piece of paper on the table, allowing everyone to see it. The picture on the paper was some sort of distorted pentagram, the lines looking more like gashes in human flesh. Arcane lettering ran along the outside of the pentagram, with some phrase in a language that Ranma had never seen before. The image made him sick just looking at it. "What the hell is that?" he asked.  
  
"Part of a summoning spell," Lina replied. "That's what happened to these towns. Some of the locals were messing with the black arts, touching parts of the Warp forbidden by the Emperor since before the dawn of the Imperium ten thousand years ago. They drew the attention of the Chaos Gods, and those insane beasts warped and corrupted the people of these ghost towns, changing them into the beasts we saw earlier. I knew there wasn't something right about them. Now I know what it was."  
  
Barnes had gone as pale as a ghost. Trunks noticed him standing there and grinned. "I was planning on telling everyone here about the Chaos presence as soon as I was sure, but what about you Commissar? I know that you understood what those creatures were." Everyone was looking at Barnes now, who was trying to find a way out of the corner he'd been backed into.  
  
***  
  
General Soun Tendo looked out at the sunset, which happened to be blocking out any sign of movement on the horizon. Normally, the First Companies Recon Platoon, along with Seventh Company recon units would be making sure no rebel elements were moving towards the main Tokyo force. However, for reasons unknown to him, Lord Commander Hayes had decided to order them to defend a ghost town. Making things even worse, he'd ordered that a good chunk of the Tokyo Firsts   
Seventh Company reinforced the troops already there. This meant there was a full Armoured Fist platoon there, along with half of the second AF platoon, as well as a squadron of Leman Russ Main Battle Tanks. This cut almost a quarter of his total armour units from the main advance, right when he needed them the most.  
  
Back during the Tokyo Civil War he'd had to deal with idiot commanders, including one Admiral in the planets wet-navy that was actually working for the other side. But none of them seemed to match Lord Commander Hayes, who seemed to excel in stupid moves. If the chance presented itself where Tendo took a club to the Lord Commander's head, almost every soldier on Redermade would pay to see it, both Imperials and Rebels.  
  
Muttering something unpleasant, he closed his tanks cupola and looked over at the driver. "Current speed?"  
  
"Fifty-three kilometres per hour," the driver replied.  
  
"ETA to Nav Point Jupiter?" Tendo asked.  
  
"Eight point three hours." Glancing at a display panel, the driver continued, "Captain Katsuragi's vehicle is approaching us." Soun opened the larger top hatch and looked out, soon seeing the familiar form of the Leman Russ Exterminator that served as Seventh Companies command vehicle making its way towards his personal Chimera. Ten seconds later, it was alongside the Chimera, nudging its way around a truck carrying several squads of troops.  
  
The Exterminator's cupola opened, and Captain Misato Katsuragi climbed out onto the top of her vehicle. Before Tendo could stop her, the woman leapt over the space between the two vehicles, landing easily on the top of the Chimera. "Are you crazy?" Tendo snapped as she climbed down into the tank. "You could have been killed! The last thing I need right now is my tank commander dead because of some brain-dead stunt."  
  
"Don't worry," Misato replied, "I've been doing stuff like that since I was an Ensign back in the TDF's 10th Armoured Brigade. I can do things like that easily. Besides, we've got bigger problems. Lieutenant Ryouji just contacted me. I know that happened at that ghost town."  
  
"Do tell," Tendo said. Misato told, and a few minutes later, the general leaned back against the wall. "Damn, are you sure?" he asked.  
  
"Ryoji gave me the word right from this Trunks character. We are talking about a Space Marine here."  
  
"True," Tendo nodded, picking up his data-slate and calling up details of the Imperial advance. Misato looked over his shoulder, seeing the Tokyo Regiments movements. "I'd rather call a general halt and dig a few trenches, then pound on the rebels with artillery as they advance towards us. But that'd mean leaving our units at the ghost town unsupported unless I call them back. But Lord Commander Hayes disagrees with my opinion. He seems to have decided for a sledgehammer style attack, Imperial units grinding against the rebels."  
  
"What a waste of resources," Misato commented. "I have to agree with your plan. I've seen enough of this style of fighting from back in the civil war." Muttering to herself, she pulled a small bottle out of her pocket and took a long drink.  
  
"Is that alcohol?" Tendo asked.   
  
"Sacra, believe it or not," Misato said. "Part of a stash I'd gotten back in the TDF. This lot was imported from some place called Tanith. No idea where that place is, but they make good grog, I'll give 'em that much."  
  
"You expect me to let you drink while on duty?" the General asked.  
  
"Well, I'm actually not on duty right now, it's just that Ryouji contacted me. Besides, I used to be a lot worse. But that's not the point now. Is there any way that we can speed up the schedule, get to the ghost town before the rebels do?"  
  
"Not a chance," Tendo replied. "The Administratum is being pushed to the limits as it is. Supply lines are stretched to the breaking point. We try to move any faster and the entire front line will just fall apart. This is as fast as we go." The pair were silent for a few minutes, until Tendo's comm-officer turned to him from the comm-unit built into the hull. "What is it?"  
  
"We are receiving a signal from orbit. Ident-code indicates it is coming from the Strike Crusier Fist of the Emperor."  
  
Both Misato and Tendo managed to conceal their surprise at what they had been told. The Fist of the Emperor was not part of the Ultima Segmentum Navy. Instead, it was part of the Eternal Dragons Navy. It was the command ship for the small collection of vessels the Space Marine Chapter had in the Redermade system. Which meant that the Eternal Dragons had an interest in the Tokyo Regiments for some reason. "On screen," Tendo said.  
  
A small viewscreen showed nothing but snow for a few seconds, before clearing to show an image of a powerfully built figure clad in silver power armour, painted in a style that made it look like the scales of a dragon. The man's helmet was removed, revealing the face of what appeared to be a man in his mid-twenties, spikey blond hair slightly covering one of his blue eyes. "I am Captain Gohan Son of the Eternal Dragons Third Company," he said.   
  
"General Soun Tendo, commander in chief of the Tokyo Regiments. What can I do for you Captain?" Despite the fact he was much higher ranked, Tendo still spoke to the Marine with nothing but respect, as any Space Marine had decades of experience. A Captain could have had seen centuries of combat.  
  
"You have men at the ghost town to the east of your position, do you not?" At the Generals nod Gohan continued. "I have a squad there myself, and I have a Thunderhawk with reinforcements ready to launch. I was wondering if you would like me to give some of your people a lift?"  
  
Tendo smiled. "How much space do you have on board?"  
  
"We should be able to fit two tanks and a few dozen men," Gohan replied. "What do you say?"  
  
"Thank you for the offer Captain. I'll have two of my tanks and three squads standing by. Do you have any preferences for landing coordinates?" After exchanging basic details with the Space Marine, the general ended the transmission and turned to Misato. "What do you make of that?"  
  
"Either they really care about the scouts they have there," Misato said, "or they've got other plans. At a guess I'd say they're sending people on a Chaos hunt."  
  
Soun nodded. "If we do it right, we might be able to fight the main force at Nav Point Jupiter, spreading out from the ghost town."  
  
"We'll have to prepare plans on our defensive arrangements," the Captain replied. "I'll wake some of the other Company Commanders and we'll talk shop." Soun nodded, and she climbed up to the top of the tank to return to her own vehicle.  
  
***  
  
The sun had only just set when the first rebel units appeared. Recon elements, advancing under cover of darkness, searching out Imperial advance units.  
  
Shinji saw them first, thanks to his position in the tower, and the range of his scopes heat-view mode. Two Wasp helicopters, hugging the desert sands in an attempt to avoid possible radar detection. But their engines gave off enough heat for the quiet sniper to see them without even trying.  
  
A lascannon blast destroyed one of them and startled the second one, which swung left, it's autocannon firing off a burst in the direction of the town. Nothing was hit. It was Hiroshi that took it down, hitting it with a krak missile that vaporised the pilot.   
  
Everyone knew that more determined attacks would soon come, and Trunks rearranged the defences slightly. About half an hour after the appearance of the Wasps, everyone in the town looked up at the sound of jet turbines. Landing thrusters belching flames, the Thunderhawk landed in the middle of the village.  
  
The aircraft was quite a strange sight. At least most Imperial aircraft attempted to be aerodynamic. The Thunderhawk didn't. It looked like an oddly shaped box, with wings on the sides and the engines built into them. Weapons extended from all over the crafts surface. At the front of it, a massive hatch had opened, allowing the troops inside to exit.  
  
The Space Marines had picked up the Guardsmen as planned, and so a Leman Russ Demolisher and the Seventh Companies only Destroyer Tank Hunter rolled out of the aircraft first, followed by about thirty guardsmen, many of them with markings indicating heavy weapons squads. General Tendo had taken men from both his own platoon and Second Companies Command Platoon, guessing correctly that heavy weapons would be very useful.   
  
After this came the Space Marines. The guardsmen watching looked on as two ingressive tanks rolled forward, a Razorback APC and a Whirlwind. Along with this came thirty Marines in full power armour.  
  
Then came the truly impressive sight. Captain Gohan Son stepped forward, the scale design on his artificer armour reflecting the light from the Thunderhawks internal bay. Built into his gauntlets were a pair of well-made Lightning Claws, weapons of a true master.  
  
Behind Gohan were nine Terminators, the elite warriors of the Space Marine Chapter. The Tactical Dreadnought, or Terminator, armour that they wore was the best personal armour in the galaxy.  
  
And to finish off the imposing sight, a powerful Dreadnought towards behind them. Containing the nearly dead body of a Space Marine that was a true hero, even by their high standards, these ultimate combinations of man and machine were some of the most powerful warriors in the galaxy.  
  
Trunks, Schofield and Ryouji were waiting at the bottom of the ramp as Gohan approached. All three of them snapped their feet together and saluted. "Captain Son, it is an honour to have you take command," Trunks said.  
  
Gohan shook his head. "I won't be taking command Veteran Scout-Sergeant. Only the vehicles and the standard Marines will remain here. The rest of us will follow the underground tunnels and exterminate the Chaos scum from this planet."  
  
The Scout Sergeant nodded. "Understood sir. Who will be taking command?"  
  
"You will retain command, Veteran Scout-Sergeant Trunks. After all, you are really a member of the First Company. Despite the fact that you requested your current position in the Scout Company, your experience can not be discounted. I have faith in your abilities."  
  
"Thank you sir," Trunks replied, saluting again. Schofield glanced at the Marine. It seemed that Trunks was more then just a Marine assigned to train the new recruits.  
  
Very interesting, the Lieutenant thought to himself. It looks like we may have an even better commander then I thought.  
  
***  
  
"You're kidding," Ranma muttered.  
  
"No, I'm not," Schofield replied, glancing over at where the Marines were entering the underground cave. Gohan and the Terminators simply jumped down, small rockets in their feet slowing their fall. "It seems that Scout-Sergeant Trunks is actually a member of the Eternal Dragons First Company, that Chapters elite force."  
  
"Woah, talk about a surprise," Ranma commented. The Space Marine Scout continued to pull more surprises out of nowhere. Most of the Space Marine Chapters were divided into ten Companies, each consisting of about a hundred marines each. The First Company contained the best of the best, warriors trained in countless fighting styles, not to mention the powerful Terminator armour. Yet   
Trunks seemed to have given it up to work with the Scouts, the new recruits of the Tenth Company.  
  
Ranma glanced towards the edge of the town, where he could just see Trunks giving orders to the driver of the Whirlwind. The mobile missile battery moved forward a few meters, it's turret aiming towards the distant horizon. It seems our current commander is just full of interesting little facts, he thought to himself. "What do you think of his general battle plan?" he asked the Lieutenant.  
  
"Pretty impressive. The large amount of heavy weapons we have will let us punish the rebels hard. You'll have the biggest trouble. Be careful."  
  
Ranma nodded as he considered the plan Trunks had made. The rebels were moving in a number of columns towards the Imperial lines. The majority of the Imperial forces would remain in the town, using it for cover against the fire of any rebels that learned of their presence. At the same time, Ranma's bike squadron, Corporal Hick's Chimera and the Space Marine Razorback would attack the foe with hit and run flank attacks.  
  
It was expected that the main rebel force, pushing to engage the Imperial Guard as far away from Kell Hive as possible, would reach the town at sunrise, seven hours away. If the Space Marines lead by Gohan Son were still underground at that time, the forces on the surface would have to fight a holding action until Gohan did return, or the main Imperial force reached them, whatever came first.  
  
"I'll be careful," he said to Schofield. "I'm going to check on Shinji."  
  
***  
  
Shinji was still in the tower, although now he had company. Lina, Tenchi and the Space Marine Scout Brendan 'Ringo' Lawson were all up there as well. While Shinji took a brief break, Ringo had his sniper rifle out, scanning the horizon.  
  
"All I'm saying is that if she tries anything, I'll make sure she's the one to get a las-round to the back of the head," Lina said.  
  
"You really don't like Commissars, do you Lina?" Ringo asked, never turning his attention away from the horizon.  
  
"Oh, I understand how important they are. After all, they are the best way of seeking out corruption and treason in the Guard, not to mention their style of morale. But I don't trust them. They judge people according to their standards. I've heard stories about Commissars, bad ones."  
  
"Everyone has Lina," Tenchi replied, setting up an autocannon on a bipod. "They're just that, stories."  
  
"Not really, many of them have some truth in them," Ringo replied. Everyone else looked at him in shock. He grinned and kept his attention on the image through his scope.  
  
"Well, I've spoken with Konoko. She understands how I work," Ranma said as he walked up the spiral staircase. The guardsmen turned to him in surprise. "There shouldn't be too much trouble. Tenchi, Lina, I want you to find the rest of the squad. They're to get their bikes ready for deployment in case of emergency. Understood?" Both soldiers nodded and ran down the stairs.  
  
"Sir, what about me?" Shinji asked quietly.  
  
"You'll remain here in the tower. Don't think it's because I don't think you can fight alongside me or some junk like that. It's because you're an even better sniper then you are hovercycle rider. I sure wouldn't mind the feeling that I've got someone watching over us."  
  
"T-thank you," Shinji stuttered.  
  
"One bit of advice kid. Lighten up a little. You're too tense. Go grab a drink, I'll keep the marine company." Shinji nodded and left the tower, leaving Ringo and Ranma alone.  
  
"Nice kid. A little shy though," Ringo noted.  
  
"Hmm? Yeah, Lina's trying to have him settle down a bit. Any sign of life out there?"  
  
The Marine shrugged. "Nothing much really. A few signs of native wildlife, little creatures the size of a small dog, but apart from that, nothing." Slowly, he ran his scope across the horizon yet again. "Hold on, I've got something. Another Wasp. It's heading north. Considering how little equipment they've got on those things, I doubt they've seen us."  
  
"Pass it on to Trunks, he's the one with the experience around here," Ranma replied.  
  
***  
  
The night wore on, and the soldiers tried to deal with the nervous tension building up. They knew an attack was coming, a big fight that would push them to their limits. The problem was waiting for it. The marines had dealt with it before. Many in the Tokyo First hadn't.  
  
In the old Enforcer headquarters, Washuu Habuki was hard at work. Synth-skin had been pulled away from her left arm, and a number of wires connected to the bionics there, as well as to an interface plug behind her ear, hidden by her hair. Her eyes had a strange glazed look to them, as if there was no one in the body. In a way, that description was accurate. The body had no soul. Washuu Habuki had dived into the Enforcer system, intent on learning just what had happened to this town.  
  
Commissar Konoko and Trooper Taichi Yagami were watching over her meat body while the tech-priestess sent her mind out elsewhere. Neither of them were very eager to be there, but they had nothing else important to do, and Trunks didn't feel like letting people just wonder around.  
  
"That is just plain creepy," Taichi muttered. "Look at her face. Weird."  
  
"She's a follower of the Machine God as well as the Emperor," Konoko pointed out. "I only know a little of the Martian Cult, but the bond between man and machine is extremely close. So close that it's hard to see sometimes."  
  
"I know what you mean," Taichi replied. "Back on Tokyo, I had this friend. An absolute technofreak. He didn't have any chrome in him, but still, I swear he could talk to machines and get a response." He looked at the tech-priestess. "How long do we have to do this?"  
  
"As long as we have to," Konoko replied. Suddenly, Washuu awakened, life returning to her eyes. Careful not to disturb the wires in her arm, and the one in her head, she took a short stretch, then turned to the two people watching her.  
  
"Any luck?" Taichi asked.  
  
"Not yet," she replied. "For such a backwater town, this place has a lot of security. Let the commander know that I'll be at least another hour." And with that she reactivated the connection, dropping back into cyberspace.  
  
Taichi simply looked at Konoko, who shrugged and activated her communicator.  
  
***  
  
The scanner results showed no life for almost five hundred metres. Gohan removed his helmet for a brief moment, running a hand through his naturally spiked hair. "Tien, Radditz, take point." The two Terminators moved ahead of the squad, weapons ready.  
  
"Those mutants bodies were familiar," Tien said over the comm-net.  
  
"I know, they looked like Genestealers," Gohan replied, locking his helmet back into place. "Tech-priestess Habuki ran some tests. No alien DNA. Those abominations were born of humanity, not Tyranids. From what she found, their claws should be unable to penetrate our armour."  
  
"Does it matter where they came from?" Radditz asked. "All we need to know is how to kill the freaks." He raised his Assault Cannon and Power Fist. "I think these will do a good job."  
  
"By understanding more about them, we can find better ways to carry out our duty to the Emperor," Gohan said. "The Space Marines exist to carry on the legacy of our Primarchs and Emperor. We are to defend the Imperium from the threats both without and within." He walked forward, just behind the pair of Terminators on point.  
  
***  
  
Trunks looked over the images transmitted down from orbit with a look of disgust. The image showed one of the rebel columns changing direction, to a direct course for the small ghost town. One of the rebel recon units they'd taken out must have gotten a message off before they died.  
  
The rebel unit was about the strength of three Imperial Guard companies, much more then what the small number of defenders under Trunks command could offer.   
  
Sighing to himself, he folded the papers up and placed them in a bag on his belt. Walking along the hastily dug trenches, he returned the salutes of the guardsmen that saw him. In the back of his mind, he wondered just how many would be alive in another twelve hours, if any of them would be.  
  
You knew the ups and downs of this job when you first tried out for the Scouts, he told himself. That day felt so long ago. Had it really been over a century since he had been a normal human? He could still remember those old days well. Images entered his mind, of enemies defeated, old friendships lost as time and war took their toll.  
  
Shaking his head to clear away the memories, he walked to where Schofield was standing, looking out at the horizon. "You better get some sleep," he said. "One of their columns is heading our way. I want you awake for the fight."  
  
Schofield bit back a yawn. "I guess so. What about you?"  
  
"Don't worry, we Space Marines can stay awake for longer periods then you normal humans."  
  
"You're making we feel worthless you know," Schofield commented as he picked one of the houses at random.  
  
"Just remember that while we may be more powerful then a normal human, you outnumber us. Besides, the loyalty I've seen in Guardsmen often outstrips anything I see from Marines."  
  
"Are you kidding?" the Lieutenant asked.  
  
"No, I'm quite serious," Trunks replied. "I've seen Guardsmen face down demons, aliens, rebels, ancient technology, and countless other horrors. And they do it without any form of genetic enhancement. In many ways, the Guard is the true power of the Imperium. They are perhaps the Emperors most powerful weapon."  
  
Schofield looked thoughtful. "That's something to consider another time, when I'm not so damn tired. See you in a few hours." He wandered off to find a bed.  
  
***  
  
Ranma stumbled into one of the buildings, two thoughts on his mind. One was the desperate need for Caffeine, which didn't seem to exist in this damn town. The second thought was the replacement thought. Sleep, sleep, sleep.....  
  
Picking a bedroom, he didn't even bother to turn on the light. Instead, he kicked off his boots, managed to remove his breastplate, and dropped onto the bed. He was out cold before he even hit the mat.  
  
***  
  
"Captain Son to Scout-Sergeant Trunks," Gohan said into his helmets comm-link for the fifth time, before giving up in annoyance.   
  
"The ground must be too thick," one of the Terminators commented.  
  
"I expected as much. Let's keep moving." The squad continued to make it's way down the tunnel, weapons at the ready. Gohan led them, Lightning Claws beginning to crackle. He was quickly starting to get annoyed. So far, they had been walking for hours, but they hadn't seen a trace of anything to indicate the presence of chaos worshippers. It may just have meant that they were hiding, but these creatures had too little humanity remaining to be able to truly hide.  
  
Suddenly, one of the tunnel walls caved in, and a number of small arms weapons opened fire. Gohan spun on the spot as sparks came up off his armour. Moving forward quickly, he stepped into the small side cave, the claws on his gauntlets coming alive with white-blue energy. He sliced through two of the cultists like paper, then grabbed the third and slammed him against the wall. He took the man's rifle and crushed it. "Behave," he growled. Behind him, several of the Terminators looked bored.  
  
"I've got an idea," one of the marines said.  
  
"What's that Tien?" Gohan asked.  
  
"It looks like the chaos freaks have traps ahead of us," Tien answered. "I'm sure our little traitor here will be happy to help."  
  
Gohan nodded, then turned his attention back to the cultist. "I'm sure you'll be happy to help us, won't you?"  
  
"Why should I?" the man stammered.  
  
"That's easy to answer," Gohan replied. "You see, the changes brought upon by chaos do not seem to have taken a large effect on you yet. You remain human." A fairly pathetic human, but I won't hurt all of his feelings right now, he didn't add. "There is a chance for your soul to be saved from the dark grip of the Chaos gods, and for the Emperor to have mercy on you when your life ends, and you stand before him in the afterlife. Do you accept?" As he asked the   
question, he rubbed one of the currently inactive lightning claws against the mans face.  
  
"I'd be ha-happy to help," the man managed to say through his shaking.  
  
"Good to hear it," Gohan said cheerfully, picking the man up and carrying him back to the main tunnel, where he dropped him in front of the squad. "Since you know the way, you can lead."  
  
"ME!?" the man exclaimed. "I'll be killed!"  
  
"But at least when you stand before the Emperor, you'll be able to tell him that you were trying to change your wicked ways," Tien pointed out, before speaking to the squad only on a private channel. "You know he won't last long. He'll be killed at the next trap."  
  
"Then we'll get more volunteers there," Gohan replied, pushing the man forward.  
  
"Damn, I shoulda thought of that..."  
  
***  
  
Konoko glanced over at Taichi, who had passed out in a seat nearby. Washuu was still hooked up to the system, taking longer then she had expected. Suddenly, with an extremely loud cry of "FUCK!!" the tech-priestess leapt from her seat, tearing the wires from their sockets.  
  
"What happened?" Konoko asked, only to have the red-head grab a las-pistol, spin on the spot, and fire several shots into the electronic systems she had been connected to a second ago. "Would you mind telling me what's going on?" the commissar asked.  
  
"That is," Washuu spat, pointing at the ruined codifier. Konoko glanced at it, noticing that somehow, the broken machine parts were moving on their own. Almost as if they were.... alive?  
  
"How is that happening?" Taichi muttered, wakened by the las-blasts.  
  
"Chaos," Konoko growled, activating her headset. "Sergeant Trunks, this is Commissar Konoko. I'm going to need a flamer in the Enforcer building. We've got a taint."  
  
"Understood." Less then a minute later, Trunks entered the room, a guardsman with a flamer right behind him. He pointed at the destroyed circuitry, and the guardsman let off a long burst of flame that melted the Chaos-mutated objects. Taichi could have sworn that the parts were screaming as they were destroyed. "Did you find anything?" Trunks asked Washuu.  
  
"I did find something interesting before the taint revealed itself. Lockly, the enforcer mentioned in the journal Hicks found, was a cultist long before he came here. Not only that, but he used to serve in Kell Hive, namely as part of the Noble House Guard."  
  
"The division of the Enforcers that serve as bodyguards for the Governors family and other noble families?" Konoko said with some surprise. Washuu nodded. "How'd he end up assigned to a slum like this?"  
  
"Apparently, he got a little too close to this girl he was meant to bodyguard. That's the official story, but I can't help but wonder..."  
  
"If he was a cultist before he came here, how far through the ranks of the Enforcers is the taint?" Taichi said, completing the thought.  
  
"Something to think about," Trunks muttered, checking the wreckage. "If the Enforcers were corrupted, then we can assume that other parts of this planet were heavily tainted as well."  
  
"And I wouldn't be surprised if the Noble Houses were part of that taint," Konoko added. Trunks started swearing as he fired a few bolt pistol shots at the once again moving codifier parts.  
  
"This town is starting to annoy me more by the minute," he commented.  
  
***  
  
Ranma stepped out of the house, looking out at the distant horizon. He checked his watch. "It's time." He ran towards where Trunks was. "Any word from Captain Son?" he asked.  
  
"A few words made it through. The ground is too dense. From what I've been able to make out, they're still travelling, although they have destroyed several small groups of rebels. What's your squads status?"  
  
"We're ready for deployment sir," Ranma replied.  
  
"Link up with the rest of the flanking force and move out." Ranma nodded and ran to where the rest of his bike squadron were waiting.  
  
Lina flashed him a brief thumbs-up as Ranma powered up the hovercycles engines. A light blue glow began to form in the exhaust vents. "Rev 'em up and let's kick some ass!" the sergeant yelled, racing out of the town.  
  
Trunks watched the bike squadron race away, meeting up with the Chimera and Razorback that also made up the flank attacking force. He turned to Washuu, who was working on a data-slate, getting up to the minute data on Rebel and Imperial movement. "You should get behind the front line," he said to her. "You're a non-combatant here."  
  
"Yeah, but I'll be serving with the Tokyo First for a long time to come," the tech-priestess replied. "A little danger is to be expected. I can be of more use here for now. When the rebels get close I'll drop back."  
  
Trunks considered this for a moment, then nodded. "Have you any new information we could use?"  
  
Washuu tapped a few runes on the data-slates touch-screen, then handed it to the Space Marine. On the screen was an image taken by one of the ships in orbit. Somewhere to the east, at temporary airfields, the rebels air units were preparing for takeoff.  
  
"The Navy have started a bombardment of any airfields they can reach," Washuu said, "but a large number of fighters and bombers are already airborne. Our own airforce is moving to intercept."  
  
"They've almost never had a large air presence before," Trunks commented. "The Navy Fighter Division will have fun today."  
  
Washuu nodded. "Still, we could have some difficulty with them." She was prevented from saying any more by a call over the comm-net. There was movement on the horizon. The rebels had arrived.  
  
Bringing his cycle to a stop, Ranma pulled a pair of binoculars from his backpack and set them to maximum zoom. At a guess, he'd have to say that there were just over half a thousand troops, consisting of both regular infantry and Shock Troops. Along with that were about sixty vehicles, not counting the K-Suits that seemed to have replaced the Sentinel walkers in the renegade forces.  
  
Ranma glanced back at the ghost town. The location gave the defenders an advantage, but this was nullified by the sheer numbers the rebels had to offer. The renegade Governor must have had one hell of a good recruiting drive, he thought to himself, moving behind a sand dune to hide. At least the cloud layer surrounding the planet stopped the sun from blocking the sight of the rebels, although Ranma wouldn't mind something like an orbital bombardment to help out sometime soon.  
  
***  
  
"Personally, I prefer the one where the floor opened to reveal those spikes," Tien commented to another Terminator. "Almost completely harmless to us, but they killed the traitor pretty quickly."  
  
"That's for sure," replied Radditz. "But I liked the one where those mechanical arms came out of the wall, grabbed them, and tore them apart."  
  
"You would," Gohan said, smirking behind helmet. "My favourite was where the roof and floor smashed together."  
  
"At least they've got imagination," one Terminator commented. "Up there."  
  
Gohan glanced ahead, spotting the light. Quickly and quietly, the squad made their way towards the tunnel exit, where Gohan signalled for them to halt for a moment. Carefully, he glanced out into a large cavern that was filled with several dozen cultists, all at different stages of mutation. They were gathered in a circle around what appeared to be the leader mutant Lieutenant Schofield had   
seen the previous day.  
  
The leader was standing with his arms clenched at his sides, psychic energy running along his body. Gohan could feel the cave vibrating, even over two hundred metres away. Slowly, the leader raised his arms, and Gohan activated the magno-visor in his helmet. The creature's exoskeleton was beginning to crack as the arcane energy ran along it.  
  
Then, with a sickening crack, the mutants arms exploded in a shower of smoke and greenish-red liquid. As Gohan tried to figure out what the whole point of that was, the rest of the creatures body exploded.  
  
As the dust settled, Gohan growled at what her was standing there. It was an imposing figure, almost eight feet tall, encased in a suit of power armour similar to his own. The markings on the armour were not Imperial though, instead the ancient runes of the Chaos Gods were carved into the ceramite.  
  
Even among the Space Marines, there were those that would betray the Emperor and humanity, selling their soul to the Chaos Gods in exchange for power and immortality. Although the most famous were those that turned to Chaos during the Horus Heresy almost ten thousand years before, it was a well kept secret that there were still others willing to make the same decision.  
  
It appeared that this Chaos Marine was a rather new one. Unlike older Chaos Marines, his armour had not fused with his skin, and very few distortions from the original Imperial design had occurred. The only major exception to this were the sides of his helmet, which had stretched out into bat-like wings, and a row of spikes running down his left arm.  
  
Gohan glanced behind the first Chaos Marine, noticing about five more hiding in the shadows, all at various levels of mutation. Underneath his helmet, the Space Marine scowled. It seemed that every time he looked, the problem here got bigger.  
  
"Present the sacrifice!" the first Chaos Marine roared, shaking the rafters. Gohan marked him as the leader. He watched as two still-human cultists carried in a large table. Strapped to it was a young girl, about fifteen years old, and rather pretty, not to mention completely human. Although her mouth was gagged, the mumblings that came from it seemed to be rather angry and fearful. Gohan guessed she was one of the townsfolk that had not succumbed to the taint.  
  
Unhooking a larger knife from his belt, the lead Chaos Marine made his way towards the woman, chanting in a language Gohan had heard far too many times before. Dark magic, namely a summoning spell. Instantly, the Eternal Dragon knew what would happen if they did not intervene. Rather then a group of sub-human cultists and traitor Marines, they would also face a demon of (most likely) considerable power. "Full assault!" he ordered, stepping out of the tunnel. "Attack pattern Crusader!"  
  
Instantly the Terminators broke off into two man teams, spreading out to nullify their foes strength in numbers. There was a brief roar of thunder as Tien and Radditz opened fire with their assault cannons. The powerful chainguns, built into the right arm of their Terminator Armour, shredded dozens of mutants in a matter of seconds, before the enemy was truly aware of their presence.  
  
Gohan charged straight into close combat, Lightning claws hissing and crackling with power. The mutants exoskeletons were easily penetrated by the power weapons, as the blond-haired Marine advanced towards the Chaos Marines. As he had predicted, the mutants claws were unable to penetrate the powerful armour the Marines wore.  
  
The former Space Marines had reacted faster to the Imperial threat then their followers. Two of the traitor Marines moved to defend the leader, buying time for the spell to be completed. One of them carried a boltgun, the other a massive, two-handed chainsword, jagged teeth already coming to life.  
  
Gohan chose his target and attacked, two of his Terminators coming up behind him to deal with the mutants he hadn't finished off.  
  
***  
  
On the surface, the battle for the ghost town was just beginning. The Imperials attacked first, the Destroyer Tank Hunter firing off a blast from it's massive Laser Destroyer cannon. A rebel APC was reduced to a hollow ruin, its insides completely blown away, as the Destroyer chose its next target.  
  
"Heavy weapons squads, stand ready," Trunks ordered. "Whirlwind Tempest, report status."  
  
"All missile tube loaded and armed," a voice replied over the comm-link. "Awaiting range confirmation."  
  
"Fire as soon as you have a target. Flanking units, report in."  
  
"Scout-Sergeant Saotome, Bike Squadron. We're in position, awaiting your order."  
  
"Hold until I give the signal."  
  
"Advance units are in range of our heavy weapons," Washuu reported from he position behind several crates."  
  
Trunks nodded. "Heavy weapons squads, this is Scout-Sergeant Trunks. Open fire."  
  
As one, several dozen heavy weapons spoke, Las-blasts and missiles raced towards the rebel force, carving a hole in forward assault. Seconds later, a number of 85mm mortar shells landed on the rebels, tearing apart several squads of lightly armoured infantry. The vehicles and shock troops continued forward.   
  
The Whirlwind opened fire, firing several missiles from it's turret weapon into the rebel assault, reaping havoc on the rebel infantry. The rest of the Imperial vehicles and troops joined in, their various weapons determined to deal as much damage as possible.  
  
But the rebels were returning fire, autogun rounds and las-rounds reaching out towards the defenses. Several guardsmen fell, as a rebel Leman Russ targeted and destroyed a Chimera, only to fall victim to the wrath of the Destroyer and the Lascannon-equipped Sentinel Walker.   
  
"Saotome, now!" Trunks yelled, firing his bolt pistol into the approaching horde.  
  
About two kilometres from the town, Ranma waved his hand in the air. "Let's go!" he ordered, speeding towards the battle, the rest of the flanking units behind him.  
  
The rebel column was an advance element of the main army. While the main force was spread out to fight along the entire battlelines, the rebel column that the Imperials currently fought, along with the other columns along the battleline, were designed to focus the assault at one point, to crate a hole in the line, allowing rebel forces to flank the Guard units. However, their weapons were pointing directly in front, and it seemed that the officer in charge of this force lacked proper combat experience, failing to have units dedicated to defending against flank attacks. This would cost them dearly.  
  
Ranma's bike squadron raced in first, their Blazer's built-in lasguns firing on full auto into the infantry units, while the built-in Bolters on the Heavy Weapons bike (currently being ridden by Taichi Yagami) laid into one of the unarmoured trucks carrying more troops, trying to hit something valuable. As several squads of regular renegade infantry and Shock Troops recovered from their surprise, the Blazer Hovercycles broke away, allowing the second half of the flanking units to attack.  
  
The two tanks raced into battle. On the left was the Chimera APC of the Seventh Companies Recon Squad. It's turret-mounted Multilaser and hull-mounted Heavy Bolter spat death into the enemy, while the remaining members of Corporal Hicks squad fired the lasguns built into the troop compartment in the vehicle. Again, it broke away before any real firepower could be directed at it.  
  
The last vehicle was similar in design to the Whirlwind, both of them based off the original Rhino template. But where the bulky missile launcher was located on the artillery platform, there was a turret mounting a Lascannon and twin-linked plasma guns, launching hard light and white-hot energy into the side of a Leman Russ, punching a hole through it's side, destroying the flamer mounted in the side sponson. As the Razorback broke away, the injured Russ   
attempted to turn, bringing its battle cannon to bear on the Space Marine tank. But the 170mm shell impacted into a sand dune, sending a cloud of sand into the air and little else.  
  
The distance between the two armies continued to decrease, with casualties building up on both sides, until Trunks gave the order for Ranma to bring out the surprises hidden in the dunes. With a roar, the explosives Ranma had set the day before detonated underneath the renegades, showering them with shrapnel and flames. At the same time, several plasma mines the sergeant had taken from the supplies Seventh Company brought with them armed. Two tanks and a small number of infantry were taken out.  
  
In the first ten minutes of the battle, the defenders had the advantage, thanks to the help of their location, and a number of tricks that had taken the enemy by surprise. However, that was set to change, with a squadron of rebel aircraft detected moving towards the town.  
  
***  
  
Gohan sliced down, turning the traitor Marines boltgun into scrap metal, before stepping back to avoid the chainsword wielded by the other Chaos worshipper. The spinning, jagged teeth barely missed his helmet, but swinging the bulky weapon left him wide open to an attack by a faster fighter. The Space Marine took advantage of this, ramming a claw through his opponents head, killing him instantly. He kicked the other traitor away then charged the leader, who was still chanting.  
  
The pair collided in an explosion of psychic energy, the power of the summoning spell released into the air. Gohan backhanded his opponent away, then cut the girls bonds. "Stay behind me," he ordered her, before turning to parry a series of attacks by the leader and a mutant. Nearby, Radditz went one on one with what appeared to be the only other remaining Chaos Marine.  
  
He backhanded the Chaos Marine away before shredding the mutant. He glanced behind him for a moment. Although their armour had a number of scratches and dents, all of the Terminators were alive and well, the simple claws of the mutants and light rifles of the humanoid cultists unable to penetrate their advanced armour. As he watched, Radditz grabbed his opponents head in his Power Fist and crushed it like a rotten piece of fruit.  
  
That moment of distraction cost him dearly. As he turned back to the last Chaos Marine, he heard the traitor chanting the spell yet again. Growling in anger, he leapt forward, slamming his left Lightning Claw through his foes chest, then sliced upwards, the energy fields around the claws allowing him to easily cut through both ceramite armour and rotting flesh.  
  
Horror building up within him, the Space Marine turned to face the young woman. A strange, pale red aura appeared around her, and her eyes had turned completely black. "Well," she said in a voice like gravel, and didn't match with her lip movement, "it appears that the spell was incomplete. No matter, I once again exist in the material world. No more is needed."  
  
"Who are you beast?" Gohan growled, signalling to the Terminators to surround her. Several of the elite Marines moved into position, the others dealing with the last of the mutants still alive.  
  
"I am Zelas," the demoness said, her voice becoming softer, and matching the movement of her lips. "And what of you, little mortals? Who are you?"  
  
"Enough talk!" Radditz yelled, snapping his Assault Cannon into place. "Let's kill this freak!" The barrels on his bulky firearm began rotating again with a whine familiar to all present. Zelas spun on the spot, her eyes glowing red and a glowing sphere of energy forming in an outstretched hand.  
  
"Move Radditz!" Gohan ordered. Radditz leapt to the side, but the bulk of the Terminator armour slowed him down. The energy blast ripped through his arm, ignoring the protection offered by the most advanced armour in the galaxy, tearing the limb from his body. Growing in pain and anger, Radditz stumbled back, glancing at his left arm lying on the ground. The Power Fist twitched a few times, then went still.  
  
Raising the Assault Cannon linked to his armours remaining arm, he opened fire. To his disgust and outrage, the bullets were harmlessly deflected by a hexagonal force-field that appeared in front of the demon. "Fools," Zelas whispered, her voice easily picked up by the external microphones in the Marines armour. "You are nothing compared to me." She raised her hand again, another sphere of Warp energy forming. Two Terminators dodged to the side as the   
demoness used her abilities to carve a tunnel through the rock. Rising slightly above the ground, Zelas flew into the tunnel.  
  
"Tien, Yamcha, check on Radditz," Gohan ordered, running to the tunnel entrance. As near as he could see, the tunnel was at a slight angle, rising towards the surface slowly. The autosensors in his armour scanned the tunnel walls, informing him that there was no heat in the walls whatsoever. Zelas hadn't melted the rock, she had destroyed it.  
  
"He'll live," Tien reported. "The blast blew the entire limb off, but it's a clean wound, and his body is already sealing the wound."  
  
Gohan nodded. The healing abilities of Space Marines were some of the best in the galaxy, ranking alongside creatures like demons and Orks (The later of which were capable of being decapitated and still have the head insult you for a good half-hour). The genetic enhancements in Radditz's body would prevent him from bleeding to death, and Marines from his family line had recieved bionics before, which meant that he would live to fight again.  
  
Quickly gathering his men, Gohan Son did the only thing he could do, and set off after Zelas. After about two minutes, Yamcha spoke up. "Captain, if my armours sensors are right, we're heading directly for the ghost town."  
  
Curious, Gohan checked his own systems, and was suprised by the answer. They were indeed on their way back to the ghost town, taking a tunnel that lead directly to it rather then twisting and turning underneath the desert. "That'd be right," he muttered. "We spend all night stomping around to try and find these Chaos freaks, and then it takes us about half an hour to get back to the extraction point."  
  
"But of course, Zelas will get there before us," Radditz muttered.  
  
"Mostly because you provoked her," Gohan noted. "Maybe that will teach you to be more careful in future."  
  
***  
  
Shinji squeezed the trigger, sending a red pulse of energy racing down into the battlefield below. Another Shock Troop fell, his helmet destroyed. Calmly, the youth selected another target.  
  
Nearby, Scout Brendan Lawson wondered at how calm Shinji was. The boy seemed more like a Vindicare then a Guardsman. He had no way of knowing that Ikari was like that all the time. He only really noted this in passing, too busy taking down soldiers with his own sniper rifle, which used actual bullets, unlike Shinji's laser weapon.  
  
By now the gap was closing. Renegade and Imperial were less then twenty metres apart, weapons fire on both sides cutting into their numbers. Heavy weaponry on both sides tore into infantry and vehicles alike, until a gap was opened in the Imperial lines when a Leman Russ took out an entire six-man heavy weapon squad. Rebel soldiers, mostly light infantry, charged forward.  
  
"Vegita, there's a breach in the line to the right of you. Rebels moving in. Deploy and intercept," Trunks ordered.  
  
The renegades were already through the breach when it happened. Turning to fire on the Guardsmen on both sides of them, when a nearby building exploded. Stepping out of the rubble was a walking nightmare, twice as tall as the largest soldier among them. What little of the morning light that penetrated the cloud cover reflected off the silver armour plates and the extremely well-maintained   
weapons. And in the centre of the war machine, the coffin that contained the nearly-dead Space Marine, kept alive by ancient technology understood by few.  
  
Several of the rebels turned and ran, only to be cut down by the assault cannon built into the Dreadnoughts right side. Those that stayed, mostly thanks to stupidity, were quickly crushed and killed by the massive Power Fist on its left arm. Vegita, former commander of the Eternal Dragons Third Company, now allowed to fight on after death as a sign of respect for his sacrifice, roared out a challenge to any brave enough to face him in battle.  
  
Two K-suits turned to face him, their pilots directing all their firepower at their targets. Autocannon and grenade rounds impacted harmlessly against the dreadnoughts outer shell, as the Space Marine charged at them, his deathly laugh amplified by the Dreadnoughts external speakers.  
  
One Imperial Dreadnought, piloted by a Space Marine with centuries of experience, against two renegades in inferior powered suits. Vegita tore them apart without even truly trying. Some distance away, Ranma shuddered as he watched the Dreadnought rip open the K-Suits and pulp their pilots. "Thank the Emperor that beast is on our side," he muttered, bringing his squad around for another run. They had suffered one casualty so far in this battle. Daisuke had been hit by a frag rocket, destroying both the soldier and his bike in an   
instant.   
  
Firing a long burst into a group of infantry, Ranma signalled for the squadron to break away. As a parting gift, he slapped a melta charge against the hull of a Leman Russ. The resulting blast vaporised the tank, igniting its internal reactor.  
  
"That was my last melta bomb," he said over the comm-link, glancing at his watch. Another hour and twenty minutes before the first sign of reinforcements arrived. As he looked at the Imperial lines, he had to admit he wasn't sure that they would last that long.  
  
***  
  
All along the outskirts of the town, Imperial battled renegade hand-to-hand, trying to survive. Only the Space Marines seemed to be able to beat the rebels on a constant basis, killing any traitor that came near them. "Trunks, you need any help there?" he asked over the comm-link, throwing proper comm-discipline to the wind.  
  
"Forget flank attacks for now," Trunks ordered. "Squad Mortar-Three needs help, and I don't have anyone to spare."  
  
"On it," Saotome replied. "Bikes, break left!" He turned hard, racing towards the battle again.  
  
High above, Shinji also heard the order, and located Squad Mortar-Three. The six-man squad only carried sidearms in addition to the three DFA-125 Mortars that were used in the squads duty of light bombardment, leaving them open to close assault. Even as Shinji watched, one of the guardsmen was cut open by a blade carried by one of the Shock Troops, a bloody hole exposing his internal organs to the world. White-hot anger flashed through the young man for a moment, and he fired a shot that took off the offending Shock Troopers head completely.  
  
Quickly, Shinji searched for the next shot. Trying another blast into the melee below was crazy. Taking out that Shock Trooper took more then a little luck, and there was a good chance that another shot would take out a guardsman. Instead, he focused his fire on anyone that seemed to be interested in moving in to support the rebels already attacking the mortar squad. He'd taken down about four more renegades when he saw Ranma and the rest of his squad charging into the fight.  
  
Screaming something rather obscene, Ranma crushed a rebel underneath his bike, the anti-grav fields reducing the man to pulp. The Sergeant then leapt off his hovercycle, bolt pistol in one hand and a long knife in the other. The rest of the squad was close behind, some remaining on the bikes, others dismounting.  
  
Konoko ran past Ranma, a bolt pistol in both hands. With a speed and grace that seemed to defy belief, the Commissar ducked and weaved her way through the various soldiers, firing her pistols in every direction, cutting down anyone against the Emperor.  
  
"Damn she's good," Ranma muttered, plunging his knife into the stomach of an unarmoured rebel, before easily dodging a punch by a Shock Trooper, firing several bolt rounds into the soldiers face. "Lina, squad at five o'clock. Burn 'em!"  
  
Spinning on the spot, Lina unslung her flamer and aimed for a squad of rebel infantry running towards them. Some of them, spotting the powerful assault weapon, skidded to a halt and tried to find cover. Before they could though, Lina fired off a massive burst of flame that burnt a hole in the middle of the squad. Their morale shattered by the sight of almost half their squad burnt to humanoid ashes, the survivors turned and ran.  
  
Nearby, Trunks watched Ranma's squad, with no small amount of respect. Somehow, Ranma's squad contained a number of very talented fighters, or martial artists as these Tokyites called themselves. Although they would be no match for him in full power armour, he hadn't seen unaugmented humans with such power and skill in a long time. Calmly parrying the blade of a Shock Troopers sword, he considered a sparring match with Sergeant Saotome some time after this fight was over.  
  
Next to the Scout-Sergeant, Washuu fired her shotgun at a rebel, blowing off a leg, before glancing at the data-slate in her other hand. "The air craft are here!" she yelled, pointing at the sky. Trunks followed her outstretched hand, and saw two Lightning fighter craft, racing towards the town.  
  
"All troops, prepare for aerial attack," he growled. "Anti-air, direct your fire on the air-craft." From the southern edge of town, he watched as several missiles and Las-beams reached up into the sky. One of the Lightnings managed to manoeuvre around the attack, but the other lost a wing, sliced off by the hard-light beam of a Lascannon. Out of control, it crashed to one side of the rebel force, killing no one but its pilots.  
  
The other air craft opened fire, it's autocannon and Lascannons tearing through the middle of the Imperial defence. Ranma stumbled back in horror as the autocannon rounds shredded Hiroshi, dropping him like a ripped bag of seed. One of the bikes, Konoko's, was hit by a las-beam and exploded, sending shrapnel in every direction, peppering the defenders with shrapnel. The battle at that section of the defenses faltered and died in the face of such an onslaught, which left a twenty metre wide hole in the defenses, larger then any caused so far.  
  
Ranma, one of those not wounded, looked around in horror. The renegade air craft had fired into both Imperial and rebel troops, leaving dozens of dead and injured. And now, more rebels were moving to attack.  
  
"Imperial forces, this is Scout-Sergeant Trunks. Fall back to rally-line Alpha. Don't give up. We've got just under an hour left. We've made it past the halfway mark, we can keep going. Fight for the Emperor and he will provide for you."  
  
Picking up the badly wounded Hiroshi, Ranma glanced at his squad. "Get the remaining bikes," he ordered, sprinting towards rally-line Alpha, which was where the tanks had set up initially. All along the line, Imperial troops disengaged and fell back. Saotome ran between the Whirlwind and a Leman Russ just as both tanks fired off another salvo, the sound wave nearly deafening him.  
  
Laying Hiroshi on the ground, he yelled for a medic. Soldiers ran in every direction, although none of them came to help tend to the injured Guardsman in front of Ranma.  
  
"Guess they're... a little busy right now sarge," Hiroshi muttered, coughing up blood. "Look, forget about me, I'm already dead. My body just hasn't noticed yet. Get back to the fight. 'Sides, Daisuke's dead too. We made a good team, back in the old days..."  
  
"Save your strength 'Roshi," Ranma said. "MEDIC! Where's a damn medic?"  
  
"Dai and I were like brothers. We did everything together, and it seems that even includes dying. I'll say hi to everyone for you."  
  
And with that, he died. Just another victim of a war that had no sense and no reason. Ranma sighed, standing up and calmly loading a fresh clip into his bolt pistol. He glanced up at the sound of the rebel Lightning, coming around for another pass. "This isn't over yet," he muttered. "Form up on me!" he ordered as his squad approached.  
  
"'Roshi?" Tenchi asked. Ranma simply shook his head.  
  
"Lina, status?"  
  
"The Commissar's bike got trashed, but we've still got enough. Are we heading out to flank them again?"  
  
Ranma activated his comm-link. "Scout-Sergeant Trunks, this is Scout-Sergeant Saotome? What are your orders?"  
  
"Form up in the main battle line. We're too short on men to send you out as a flanking unit again."  
  
"Understood." The guardsman looked at his squad. "Form up on the battle line, rifles ready." Even as he gave the order, he unslung his bolter, thumb toggling the safety.  
  
And that was when the ground exploded.  
  
***  
  
With a flash of arcane power, Zelas blasted her way to the surface, rising in the aftermath of an explosion that tore a hole in the middle of the rebel advance. Calmly, the demoness looked around, watching as the humans moved back from her, expressions of fear and horror on their faces as they realised this was some kind of psyker.  
  
Then one of the soldiers shot at her with a pistol. The las-blast glanced off her force field, but anger filled her at the thought of a mere human having the nerve to even try to attack her. Screaming with rage, she released her power, sending a wave of energy in every direction, vaporising the rebels around her.  
  
In a matter of seconds, Zelas did what would have taken the Imperials many lives and perhaps another hour or two. The powers of the Warp reached into their bodies and burned them alive from the inside out.  
  
"Throne of Earth," Schofield gasped as he watched the rebels die painfully, eldritch energies killing them from within. "What is that thing?"  
  
"There's only one thing it can be," Trunks growled. "Demon! Heavy Weapons Squads, concentrate fire on the new target! All other units, fire on the remaining rebels."  
  
Once again, the Imperials opened fire in a devastating display of power, with countless ranged attacks impacting against the demons shields. At the same time, the more conventional infantry units opened fire on what was left of the rebel column, wiping most of them out of existence.  
  
As the large smoke cloud in front of them faded away, a number of the Guard screamed at the sight of Zela, bloodied but still very intact, walking towards them. "Fools," she said, her voice unheard by those standing against her. "Do you really believe that you stand a chance against the powers of Chaos?"  
  
"While your cheap parlour tricks may have dealt with those pathetic renegades," a new voice said, "I'm afraid you'll have to try much harder then that to even scratch me." Zelas turned to face this new voice, then jumped back just in time to avoid the power fist that tried to remove her head from her body. Landing several metres away, she simply looked at the Dreadnought that had snuck up on her while she was busy getting shot at. "My body is properly warded against techniques like that," Vegita told her.   
  
Zelas didn't even bother to reply, instead punching the metal monstrosity in the stomach. The Dreadnought stumbled back, a slight dint in its armour, before opening up with its assault cannon. The Demoness ignored the hypervelocity slugs, tackling the machine and sending them sprawling into the mud.  
  
"How the heck can that girl fight a Dreadnought unarmed?" Ranma muttered as he watched the fight.  
  
"That's no ordinary girl, in case you haven't noticed," Lina spat. "I doubt it's even human. It's a demon. They have a habit of ignoring the laws of nature." The red-head gave her friend a very sarcastic look. "I'd have thought you would have figured that out by now, considering how much we just shot at her."  
  
"Yeah, well, you're the expert on bizarre happenings and strange shit," Ranma replied, firing his bolter at a surviving rebel. "If it wasn't for the fact she could, and most likely will, do the same thing to us, I'd almost consider thanking her for dealing with those rebels for us."  
  
Konoko opened her mouth to make a reply, but she snapped it shut and glanced up at the sky above, where the rebel Lightning aircraft was pulling away. "I guess he's not so confident about facing a creature that can kill several companies of his own men."  
  
"Funny, he didn't seem to worry about his own men when he was strafing us before," Ranma muttered. As he watched, a number of Guardsmen and Marines with heavy weapons opened fire on the aircraft. The pilot was good, but there was no way in hell he could have avoided all of the weapons aimed in his direction now. After all, without the rebel ground units to fire at, there were only two possible targets. And Vegita was blocking everyone's line of sight on Zelas.  
  
And when the surviving tanks opened fire as well, it was all over. As the burning wreck crashed into a sand dune, the Imperial forces turned their attention back to the demon.  
  
Trunks observed the fight between machine and monster, noting down weaknesses in the fighting style of the demoness. Vegita's efforts were not really very effective, as the machine was simply too slow to really inflict any damage on the monster he fought.  
  
Before anyone had a chance to react, Zelas leapt over the Dreadnought, landing behind it, and blasted a section of the war machines power plant. Vegita stumbled for a few seconds, then fell over and twitched a few times, his main power destroyed, although the back-up system to protect his organics remained. Zelas turned to face the Imperial forces, an evil grin on her face. "Now then, where were we?"  
  
There was no answer, except for the pair of lightning claws that sliced down her back and sent her into the desert floor. Looking up, she recieved a boot to the head as Gohan laid into her again. Taking to the air for safety, she was left opened to yet another barrage of weaponry. As the smoke cleared, the demoness was left floating on midair, her clothes in ruins. "Foolish mortals!" she yelled, her voice louder then what should have been possible. "I have   
lived for thousands of years! I have destroyed entire worlds, killed billions of your worthless species. And yet you are still foolish enough to try and kill me?"  
  
A short distance away, Shinji took careful aim. Zela's head was right where he wanted it. Making one last adjusted based on the wind speed, he fired. Zelas screamed in a combination of rage and pain as the blast hit her just under her left ear, punching a hole through her head. Taken by surprise, her force fields penetrated by a blow far weaker then many of those directed at her over the past few minutes, she was left wide open. But only for a moment. Even as Gohan moved to attack her as she fell, the wound healed and she came to a   
halt in mid air again.  
  
They were unnerved by this bizarre creature, seemingly capable of surviving any kind of attack, and which had destroyed the rebel force in seconds. But still the Tokyo First and the Eternal Dragons held firm, determined to destroy this beast, no matter what it took.  
  
Zelas considered her options. She was powerful, of that there was no doubt. However, she was tired. She had just re-entered the material realm after centuries in the Warp, destroyed an army, and withstood several salvos of fire from the Imperials opposing her. She needed to rest, badly. And so it was that Zelas simply teleported away, leaving a battered, but alive, Imperial force.  
  
Admist the cheering, Lieutenant Schofield looked at his data-slate. On it was a display of the renegade advance towards them. "The demon may be gone," he muttered, "but what do we do about them?"  
  
"We wait," Trunks replied, sheathing his power sword.  
  
***  
  
The main Imperial force arrived before the renegades. Captain Gohan Son wasted no time in speaking to Lord Commander Hayes, convincing him that it was a better solution to dig trenches and settle in, rather then have the Eternal Dragons pull their support from this war. After all, Space Marines did not answer to the orders of the Guard, except for when it suited _them_.  
  
All along the Imperial line, the advance rebel columns smashed into the Imperial forces. Although some of the columns did manage to penetrate the first lines, they were unable to do much damage, thanks to quick responses by both the Guards second defence lines and the Eternal Dragons squads that used drop pods to reach problem areas quickly. The majority of the renegade columns were simply destroyed before they could punch a hole in the Imperial defenses.  
  
General Tendo made the ghost town his base of operations for the defence, and quickly had the plans Misato had created the night before put into practise. Many of the surviving guardsmen from the ghost town found that instead of getting some well earned sleep, they were digging trenches. Much to his annoyance, Trunks found that the same was true for the Space Marines.  
  
At eleven a.m, almost four hours after the beginning of the battle at the ghost town, the renegade force arrived to find that the Imperials had set up strong defenses, filled with both Guardsmen and Space Marines. Artillery pounded them as they attempted to advance, Imperial advance units such as Schofields recon platoon and Trunks' scout squad, handling problems such as Wasps and scout tanks, before dropping back behind Imperial lines when the rebels came too close.  
  
The rebel commander, realising that a poorly supported assault against the Imperial trenches would fail, made the decision the dig in and resume the trench wars, just as they were almost a week before. Although these new trenches were several hundred kilometres closer to Kell Hive.  
  
***  
  
Ranma looked at the lines of trenches, just on the edge of the town. It was no longer a ghost town, filled to breaking point with soldiers and all the people needed to support an army. He doubted that the rebels would penetrate those any time soon.  
  
So, was it worth it? he asked himself, looking at the dog tags in his hand.   
  
Hiroshi Ikuhara, Trooper, Tokyo First Imperial Guard Regiment.  
  
Ranma thought about the latest loss to his squad. Hiroshi had only been in the squad for about a week, replacing Kensuke, who was still recovering from the stomach wound he had gotten in the last trench battle. He had a sense of humour, his own opinion on matters and an obsession with heavy weapons that was almost frightening. Ranma had never figured out why the man had been assigned to the bike squad rather then a squad with constant access to heavy weapons. But   
then again, that didn't really matter anymore, did it?  
  
Then, of course, there was Daisuke. He and Hiroshi seemed like brothers, complementing each other perfectly. Where Hiroshi preferred area saturation, Dai went for a rifle and a 'one shot, one hit,' approach to combat. It had been expected that when the modified hovercycle was complete and the weapon platform attached, Hiroshi would take control of the beast, while Dai dealt with anything too manuverable for the bigger bike.  
  
Outside combat, it was always certain that Dai would find something to pass the time, and when Hiroshi joined the squad, the pair seemed to be able to find anything, with an ease that impressed even Lina.  
  
Sadly, he tossed the dog tags aside, then looked in the direction of the rebel trenches. He wasn't the first, Ranma told himself, and he won't be the last. Turning his back to the war for a short time, Ranma went to find a drink.  
  
***  
  
"So, her name was Zelas?" Lina asked. Trunks simply nodded. "Ring any bells?"  
  
The Space Marine shook his head. "I'm afraid not," he replied. "But then, there are so many demons and heretics out there. The Captain has sent word back to our homeworld. With a little luck, we might know more about her before we come across her again."  
  
"She wasn't your normal demon, I can say that much," Lina said, taking a sip of her beer. Trunks raised an eyebrow in question. "Look, demons possessing people isn't uncommon. In fact, it happens too damn often for my liking. But demons never, and I mean _never_, know how to look after a physical body properly. They usually forget to eat, sleep, all the little things a human needs to survive. After a few months, there's nothing left but a shell, animated by the demons foul energies."  
  
"Zelas had only just possessed that body," Trunks pointed out, placing his own drink on the table for a moment. "She hasn't had time to let it rot."  
  
"But after we hit her with those attacks, and Ikari blasted a hole through her head, she healed them. She healed them properly. No strange mutations, no distortions, nothing that would accompany a normal demon healing itself through the use of Warp energies."  
  
"You're right," Trunks muttered. "How'd I miss that?"  
  
Lina grinned. "I guess the little kid can spot things the veteran misses," she quipped.  
  
"Don't sell yourself short," Trunks said, before draining his glass. "For someone only out of their teens, you've got a lot of experience, more then some Marines I know. I'll pass your observations onto the Captain."  
  
"Thanks," Lina replied. "I thought Marines didn't drink?"  
  
"Some of them don't," Trunks replied. "Too many of them are Warrior Monks, forgetting everything but the fighting. The Eternal Dragons don't use that approach. We make sure we remember what we're fighting for. See you around." He dropped some money on the table and walked off.  
  
Lina sat there for a moment, before draining her own beer and walking off. By the time she reached the door of the makeshift pub, Trunks had vanished into the crowd of soldiers on the street.  
  
Shrugging, she made her way to where the Tokyo First's Recon Platoon was billeted, intent on getting some sleep. She had a feeling she was going to need all the rest she could get over the coming weeks.  
  
***  
  
End Part Four  
  
***  
  
Author's notes:  
  
FINALLY! I was starting to wonder if I'd ever get this one done. Thanks to some well-placed exams, I had to stop work on this for over three weeks, making for a shitload of delays.  
  
This is the final part of Soldiers of the Imperium. Before you start up with the flames, let me explain. I've actually gotten requests for more on the version of Trunks shown in these last two chapters. However, I had no plans for Trunks and Ranma to meet again for quite a while. Because of this, I will be writing two one-shots in the coming months. Vengeance will cover the Tokyo First's Recon Platoon, while Infiltration will focus on Trunks. This adventure is nowhere near finished. If anything, my muse is only just kicking into high gear.  
  
Many thanks to all those that have sent in compliments and encouragement. During the past few months, the only mailing list I was on was Sofaspud's Couch, but still, I recieved more e-mails then I have for any other story. I couldn't have done it without your help.  
  
Netaddress is going off-line at the end of the month, and I'm not willing to pay for their new service, so I might not have a properly fixed e-mail address for a while. Try Matrix_83@Hotmail.com, but I might not be able to reply from there, thanks to the large amount of spam that crashes that old account.  
  
Thanks again, and I hope you've enjoyed the ride!  
  
***  
  
Soldiers of the Imperium  
Part Four  
  
Cast (In order of appearance):  
Scout-Sergeant Ranma Saotome  
Veteran Scout-Sergeant Trunks  
Trooper Rook Bartley  
Corperal Robert Hicks  
Scout Trooper Ash Ketchum  
Commissar Konoko  
Tech-Priestess Washuu Habuki  
Scout Trooper Lina Inverse  
Scout Marine Brendan 'Ringo' Lawson  
Scout Trooper Shinji Ikari  
Second Lieutenant Shane 'Scarecrow' Schofield  
First Lieutenant Kaji Ryouji  
Commissar Barnes  
General Soun Tendo  
Captain Misato Katsuragi  
Comms-officer Kai  
Captain Gohan Son  
Trooper Hiroshi Ikuhara  
Eternal Dragons Space Marine Chapter, Third Company  
Eternal Dragons Space Marine Chapter, First Company Terminators  
Honoured Dreadnought Vegita  
Trooper Taichi Yagami  
Terminator Tien  
Terminator Radditz  
Cultist  
Tokyo First Imperial Guard Regiment Recon Platoon  
Tokyo First Imperial Guard Regiment, Seventh Company  
Redermade Independence Army, 22nd Regiment, 3rd-5th Company  
Traitor Marines, unidentified.  
Heretic Mutants, formerly residents of the Ghost Towns  
Zelas  
Terminator Yamcha  
The pilots of RIAF Squadron 362  
Honourable Lord Commander Richard Hayes  
  
Exhausted Writer:  
Christopher A. Wood  
  
Technical Consultants:  
Brendan 'Ringo' Lawson  
Games Workshop  
  
The Tokyo First Regiment will return in 'Vengeance'  
Veteran Scout-Sergeant Trunks will return in 'Infiltration'  
  
A Matrix Dragon Production  
(c) 2001  



End file.
